Changing Face
by RadeliaPotter
Summary: *Finished as is* Harry disappears from the wizarding world after the Final Battle for 5 years.Presumed dead but Sirius keeps looking for him and finally finds him.But Harry doesn't want to come back as himself,he wants to be known as JamesNewark not
1. Chapter One

A/N: All characters belong to the great J.K. Rowling. Except for Steve! He's all mine! **Chapter 1**

A spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean with its high rock cliffs lay below James Newark in his three story mansion. James was in the middle of his morning ritual, which comprised of waking up at 6 AM, take a shower, make coffee, watch the sunrise, do hair, get dressed, change pets water and finally pick between his black Rolls Royce or silver BMW. He usually alternated but some days he like to be 'spontaneous' as he liked to joke with his secretary.

James was thinking about which car to take today as he watched the sunrise with a cup of coffee in his hands. He looked into his cup as he swirled the contents around. Coffee: how he had ever come to like the sludge was anybodys guess. He had always been a tea drinker, but coffee did a thorough job of waking him in the morning when he most needed it. Those morning were usually when he knew what kind of client had scheduled a meeting with him, or when one of those clients had been in the news and needed help out of the fix. It would always prove for a long, hard day. Of course, every day is a hard day when you're working with insufferable movie stars all day.

Again another thing that he couldn't understand about himself. A career that revolved around fame. Fame clung to James and he hated it. Where ever he went, it was there following him around like a shadow. Why would anyone want it? Getting stared at all the time and getting obnoxious comments like, "Are you really?" or "_The_ insert name here? No way! I'm so happy to meet you. Can I have your autograph? Can you take a picture with me?" No matter how much James tried to fight it, fame was there around him. His name and face were becoming very well known in the movie business. There were the perks however. Such as free meals or free drinks when he'd go into a bar. James was brought out of his thoughts by the phone ringing shrilly. He strode over to it with grace and pressed the talk button.

"Hello, James speaking."

"Of course it is. You're a bachelor. Nobody lives with you. Who else would it be, you chump?"

"Shut it Steve. You give me shit every time you call. You'd think it would be old by now."

"It would be, but you keep answering the phone like that; when you live _alone."_

"Yes, I am aware of the fact. Thank you. What do you want? I have to get ready for my meeting at 8 with Sarah Colbak."

"Oh yes, the beautiful actress that you used to..._ahem_ have sexual relations with."

"Yes, but we are just meeting to do business...concerning her _career._ he added when Steve gave a snort of laughter.

"Yeah OK, but anyway. Would you be free to go out and get a drink tonight? It is Friday so you can relax tonight you know."

"Yes, I know," he snapped. "I was planning to call you today to make plans with you tonight anyway. So lets meet at the Oasis at 7:30."

"Good, I need to scope out the women anyway and I know how they flock to you, you handsome devil. Maybe I can snag one of them away from you."

"They do NOT flock to me."

"Oh shut up. You know they do. You could have your way with any woman in Hollywood, excluding prostitutes because that's a given."

"Yeah, whatever. I gotta get going or I'm going to be late. See you tonight."

"Yep, later." James hung the phone back on the hook and made his way to the bathroom. He stood in front of the mirror and looked at his reflection. Short messy black hair that wasn't even an inch long. It had always been unruly and there was no controlling it until he cut it short. Even then there wasn't much to do with it but gel it so that the messy look, looked to be on purpose. He had emerald green eyes that held a haunted look to them that women loved. Of course they didn't love the green because he hid them under blue contacts. They always loved the blue though. He looked at his bare chest. Hairless and chiselled to the perfect shape. They were muscles formed by playing sports in school and working out in the gym he belonged to. He was still skinny as he had always been but the awkwardness of it grew out as the muscles grew more defined.

He shook his head as he remembered what Steve had said countless times. _'Women flock to you.'_ James actually knew they did but didn't like to admit it because he just didn't understand why. Granted his looks had changed considerably since school. A lot in fact. He'd be willing to bet everything he owned that his old friends wouldn't recognise him.

What with the disappearance of certain bothersome scars.

He pushed the thoughts out of his head and took his circular black wire rim glasses off his face to replace with his blue contacts. Ten minutes later, hair gelled to the best of his ability, and a spray of cologne, James emerged from the bathroom to go get his suit on. He chose a black pinstriped coat and pants with a dark blue shirt and tie that accentuated his newly blue eyes. He finished the ensemble with his most expensive Italian black shoes.

He made his way into the kitchen and filled a large glass of water and made for the attic on the 3rd floor. It was only a room that was 20 by 15 ft big but it served a good purpose to house his snowy owl, Hedwig. There was a large window pointing towards the ocean that James always kept open so she was able to fly in and out when she pleased. The past two weeks had James kind of worried about her. She hadn't been home once; she was usually only gone for a couple days at a time and when she would return; she'd fly downstairs and announce her arrival to James. Her absence didn't stop James from refilling her water dish everyday with fresh water. He stared thoughtfully out the window for a minute before he made his way to the garage to pick out the car for the day. The BMW. He rather liked that one.

~*~*~*~

At 7:30, James was found sitting at a small table for two with a beer in hand at the Oasis. He liked going there because the place was elegant. Not like the other dumps you would find in LA It was a place for business meetings and such. The trashy girls never hung out there either. Which kind of puzzled him, business men that he knew always wanted the cheap thrills. He admitted to himself that he never said no to one if the chance presented itself, and he was in the mood.

But mostly he didn't go for that. The smart, classy girls always caught his attention. That's why he paid attention to conversations around him before he approached a woman. A woman with long, red wavy hair was sitting at a table next to him, laughing at something her friend had said. James couldn't help but notice the sparkle in her baby blue eyes and the way she whipped her hair out of her face. There was something really familiar about her. Noticing his stare, the girl looked over at James. He flashed her the smile that he knew made women melt. She smiled shyly and looked down while the tips of her ears turned red.

"Hey Newark!" James started at the sound of the loud voice.

"You want to keep it down Steve? This isn't some dump that you go to normally."

"Yeah whatever, don't give me shit. It's been a long day." He sat down across from James with a sigh. Steve did look like he'd had a long day. His normally tidy sandy blonde hair was dishevelled and his brown eyes had bags underneath and were slightly bloodshot. He was dressed in casual clothes, blue jeans, and an LA Lakers T-shirt underneath a leather jacket.

"I don't know how you plan on picking up women with those kind of clothes on."

"At least I don't look like I've got a stick up my ass."

"Excuse me, I don't think I look like I've got a stick up my ass. Although I do look positively horrid tonight."

"Horrid? I'd say you were turning British on my ass." James took off his coat jacket and loosened his tie.

"There's nothing wrong with the British. They're likeable people. Well...most of them anyway." His face visibly darkened while thinking of his childhood.

"What's with the look? Did you have some bad experiences with some or what?" A waitress walked over to their table.

"Can I get you two anything?"

"Yeah, I'll have a beer and I think James here is running low."

"All right I'll be back in a minute."

"So where's your usual crowd of women tonight? How am I supposed to get any when their aren't any women around you?"

"Well, I already had my eyes set on a beautiful redhead right over there...oh shit! She left. Thanks a lot man for interrupting me." The waitress came over and set down their drinks. "Thanks."

"Oh well, there are some others here tonight. I'm sure we'll find the intelligent kind you seem to like so much. And what's up with you and redheads? Every other woman you're with is one."

"I don't know, I've just been attracted to them ever since this one girl from school." He took a long drink from his second mug of beer as Steve kept talking.

"You're still hung up on that girl or what? I'd say get over it, especially since it's probably been forever since you've seen her. She's probably married or something." James was just going to pull away from his beer to agree but choked into his beer. A dark hair man was sitting at the bar wearing dark green robes. The man was staring at James intently.

"Hey you all right man?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just forgot how to swallow properly." He stood up and yelled to the bartender. "Eric, put these on my tab will ya?"

"They're on the house tonight James."

"Thanks." He snuck another look at the man to see his eyes go wide and a broad smile cross his face.

"Oh shit. Sorry, Steve but I gotta get going. I'll call you tomorrow."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Steve yelled at the retreating back of his friend which quickly disappeared due to the fact that a man in robes ran after him. "What the hell?"

James started his BMW and threw it into reverse. He started out of the parking lot just as the man came and pounded on his window. "Damnit! Just let me talk with you! Why are you running away from everyone and everything?" James peeled out of the parking lot.

"Damn kid. What's his problem?" Sirius Black shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. He didn't have a car so he certainly couldn't follow him now. No, he'd have to go and wait at his house, but how to get there? Taxi cab? No, he didn't have any Muggle money.

"Hey, what's your problem with James?" a voice broke into his thoughts.

"First of all, you can stop calling him James. His name is Harry Potter. James is the name of his father."

"You're British."

"Boy nothing gets by you does it?"

"You've cracked up. I think you've mistaken him for somebody else...who are you?"

"I know my own godson when I see him. Can you give me a ride to his house? I promise I'm not going to kill him. I've got his best interests at heart."

"How am I supposed to know that? He positively fled when he saw you. And he was talking about the British a bit before he ran away. How some of them are horrible. How am I supposed to know that he wasn't talking about you?"

"I expect he was talking about his Aunt and Uncle and...a few other people. He ran from _me_ because he's been running away from his real life for five years. So of course he doesn't want to see me." Sirius paused and stared at the man who had obviously become close to Harry since they met. He sighed, "He's not what you think he is you know. Look, could you just take me to his house? I need to talk some sense in him now that I've found him. I'm not going to give up even if you don't bring me there. I'll just walk there if I have to." _Or apparate and take the chance of Muggles seeing me again._

"Fine but I'll hunt you down if I hear he's dead in the morning." Ten minutes later they were pulling into a long driveway surrounded by palm trees. The massive house soon came into view and startled Sirius. Even though he had already seen it once, it was just that big.

"How did he even bloody afford this place?"

"It's called hard work as a publicist."

"A publicist? What the hell was he thinking?"

"Looks like he's not even home yet. He probably went to find some woman to bring home. Do you still want to stay here?"

"Yeah, I'll just wait for him here. Thanks for the ride."

"No problem. Don't hurt him all right?" You're kind of scary." Sirius gave a hollow laugh.

"You haven't seen scary yet. And I wouldn't hurt a hair on his head." Sirius put an invisibility charm on himself as soon as the car disappeared. He waited until after midnight when a car finally pulled into the yard. He saw Harry get out and then go to the passenger door and open it to reveal a beautiful brunette woman with legs to die for. Sirius followed stealthily behind them and squeezed in after them just before Harry closed the door and turned on the alarm system.

Sirius looked around at his surroundings and saw that they were in a rather large foyer with a sweeping, slightly curved staircase before them. The upstairs hallway was just visible for a couple feet before disappearing behind the wall. To the left of the staircase was a sitting room set a bit off from the foyer. To the right of the staircase was a hallway that led off to what was presumably the kitchen. He was pulled out of his observations of the house from the woman's voice.

"Oh James, I've missed you so much. I was wondering when you would call me again. You're the best I've ever had in bed." Sirius fought off nausea with that thought.

"I've missed you too Kayla." Harry said in a hoarse whisper before grabbing her ass and lifting her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist. He pushed her into the wall and began kissing her feverishly and moved his hips in a circular motion into her body.

"Let's go upstairs."

_Best idea you've had all night, Harry._ Sirius decided to explore the house and then find somewhere to sleep for the night. He'd have to keep the invisibility charm on. He walked along the bottom floor and found a kitchen, living room facing the ocean, the walls were all made of glass in those rooms. There was a game room with a pool table, bar, foosball, ping pong and arcade games. He opened a large door at the end of a hall and was surprised to see a hotel sized pool. There was a sauna, whirlpool and spa room. There were also numerous guest bedrooms. His inspection of the first floor complete, he went to the foyer and up the stairs.

_None of his wizarding things yet. I wonder what he did with it all._ On the second floor, he came upon a large library and a study attached through a door. Countless guest bedrooms were here and another entertainment room with a large movie screen and movies upon movies on DVD. There were just as many CD's for his large stereo system that seemed to be connected throughout the house. There were painting on the walls in every room. Some original artwork by the artists. It seemed Harry took a liking to Picasso. He had two of his originals. There were others paintings by people Sirius had never heard of. They were paintings of mostly abstract things, some more with flowers; mainly lilies. One of the most beautiful paintings, in Sirius's opinion was a painting of a red hair angel ascending to heaven. She looked remarkably like Lily and knew that it probably was when he saw the signature on the bottom of the painting. Dean Thomas.

Sirius came to the last two doors on the left with one left on his right. He almost opened the door on the right when he heard a bunch of loud moans. "Oh James!"

_Ugh, Harry's room_ he thought as he backed away. Just as he started to turn the doorknob of the first of the last two doors, a scream of pleasure rent the air followed by Harry's deep grunt. _Great wizards. I should have stayed downstairs._ He pushed the door open and a large bathroom appeared before him with a Jacuzzi as well as a shower stall that looked like it could be a waterfall, not a shower by the look of the taps. The sinks alone were large enough to sit in. He walked out and went to the second bedroom which had a note on the door.

_No need to clean this room. I clean it myself. -James Newark_

Obviously to the maids that cleaned. It sparked Sirius's interest. What was in there? He turned the knob but it was locked. He pulled his wand out and whispered, "Alohomora" 

The door swung open and revealed a large room. He flipped the light switch to see better. It was one of the largest rooms. There was a wall of books on the back wall. A large desk a few feet from the books and centred in the middle of the room. The desk was scattered with what looked like letters that have gone unanswered in the years since he disappeared and wizarding newspapers from the LA area and the Daily Prophet in London. It looked like Harry had been keeping up with what was happening in England.

On the left side of the room was a fireplace large enough to stand in on the left wall. There weren't any paintings on the walls but pictures of people waving merrily at him. He walked into an area of the room where the ceiling dipped to six feet and only was four feet wide. It went in about six feet as well. Inside was a plush scarlet chair with a large foot rest to match. The chair could pass as a bed for somebody. He turned on a floor lamp next to the chair and noticed a picture on the wall of Harry, Ron and Hermione on their graduation day. All smiling broadly and waving like mad with their arms around each other. He turned the lamp off and walked out.

He noticed another little "cave" three feet away from the first one. It was identical except this one had a bed in it that look well slept in. Probably from the night before. There was another picture frame on the wall with himself, and Remus Lupin on either side of Harry on graduation. They were all smiling and waving happily. Another picture hung beside it of James looking at Lily longingly. It was before they even dated. Sirius laughed at the memory of the picture.

He had taken it in their fifth year at Hogwarts and James had been horrified that Sirius had caught him looking at Lily Evans that way. It actually made them finally get together. He brought himself out of his memories so he could explore the rest of the room. He noticed the Firebolt in a glass case up on the wall that he had given Harry in his third year. He shook his head and looked at the books on the shelves. They were books he had collected while attending Hogwarts and he had obviously kept buying more books since his disappearance. He had quite the collection of magical books.

At the end of the bookcase was a large door leading into another room. Inside was a collection of potion ingredients and a large work area. There was a large supply of medical potions and various other potions. At the opposite side of the room was a small staircase. He made his way up and found himself in a small attic. There was nothing there except a cage where Hedwig was sleeping and her food dishes. Sirius stroked the top of her head and untied a piece of blank parchment that was still tied to her leg and went back down the stairs. Since there was nothing else of interest in there he made his way back into the main room and went to inspect a wardrobe near the fireplace. Inside were all of Harry's wizarding clothes. Sirius noticed newer robes toward the front. He looked at his watch and noticed that it was 2 AM.

He pointed his wand at the light switch and turned if off and lit his wand by muttering, "Lumos." He climbed into the bed and fell asleep almost immediately. The time change had really screwed him up.

~*~*~

"I have to get going James. I'm expecting guests at my place today."

"OK, I'll walk you out." Sirius awoke slowly from muffled voices out in the hall. It took him a couple seconds to realise where he was and why he was there. When he figured it out he jumped out of bed and ran to the door. He listened to their footsteps die away before opening the door and re-locking it. Sirius reached the top of the steps just in time to see the two kissing goodbye and a cab waiting outside.

"Call me James. Don't wait four months to do this again."

"I don't think I could wait that long. Talk to you later." She smiled.

"Bye." Harry shut the door and Sirius distinctly heard him mutter back in his British accent, "Maybe when you get some brains, then you'll be good enough for me to call again.." Sirius rolled his eyes as Harry reset the alarm.

_Someone needs to teach this kid how to treat a woman....and lower his ego._ Harry started up the stairs and walked into the bathroom but didn't shut the door. Sirius turned his back as he took a piss, but then turned back around as he heard him washing his hands.

_I wish he would put some clothes on._ All he had on were boxers. _Be grateful for them._ Harry began to poke at his eyes and that was when he realised that they were blue. _What?_ Then he pulled things out of his eyes and his eyes turned green again. Sirius slapped himself mentally for being so dumb. Of course he's wearing contacts. No glasses on, but then he reached for a pair of circular wire rim glasses and put them on. Harry sighed in disgust as he ran a hand through his short black hair. Still messy as ever, noted Sirius with a smile.

"Stupid hair. Can't do a thing with it." muttered Harry under his breath as he made his way back downstairs to the kitchen. Harry went to the fridge and took out eggs and bread and milk and then he got some cinnamon and syrup out of a cupboard. The stove was set in a counter in the middle of the kitchen. Harry began cooking on one side while Sirius sat on a stool opposite him and watched him work. Harry stretched and yawned while flipping the French toast and scratched his hard stomach. Sirius took the invisibility charm off him at that moment.

"You actually prefer to use the Muggle way of cooking? You're mad!" Harry jumped about three feet in the air.

"Holy shit!" he yelped. Sirius smirked and watched his face turn from surprise to puzzlement to anger. "What the hell are you doing here? And how did you manage to find me? How did you get in my house?"

"One question at a time. First of all, I'm here because you just happened to have disappeared five years ago without a trace and I've been looking for you ever since because you're my godson."

"OK, yes but how in the world did you find me?"

"It was Hedwig actually. About a week ago she flew in through my kitchen window. I just about died from shock, and then from worry because she didn't have a letter or anything. I thought maybe you had died and she had no where to go or something. But then I came up with a plan. I put a tracking charm on her and tied a blank piece of parchment to her and told her to deliver it to you. She immediately left and it wasn't until yesterday that she stopped. Here. I immediately apparated here, hoping against hope that no one would see me. Someone did and nearly had a heart attack. I told the poor woman to drive me to where ever you worked and then we followed you to the bar. I put a memory charm on the old coot and she drove away happy as you please. That's where you spotted me about ten minutes later and high tailed it out of there. I wasn't even quite sure that it was you until you choked on your beer when you saw me. I can't even believe how much you've changed. You still look like James but Lily's features are coming out with your old age."

"My old age? Look at you! No offence but you look terrible. You need some food and rest. I'll give you the food now but then you can go home and forget you ever found me." He pushed a stack of French toast towards Sirius.

"Ha ha, nice try but you're not getting off here that easily. I will take the food though. I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday." Harry made more for himself and they ate together in silence. They did the dishes and Harry finally decided to break the silence.

"So what do you expect me to do now? Just come running back to England and be a wizard full time? Maybe even become an auror again?"

"It would be nice to have you back. Then you can get rid of your Yankee accent. It's drowning out your British accent. Horrible. And everybody thinks you're dead because you disappeared during the battle. Died killing Voldemort. Did you kill him? Even that's uncertain. They found him; they didn't know it was him though at first. He was mutilated. When they lifted the eyelids and saw the red eyes, they knew it was him. So, did you do it to him?"

"Yeah, I guess I did." Harry said quietly.

"Oh my, what did you do to him? I saw him. It made me throw my lunch up." Harry was silent for a bit while wringing a dish towel.

"Well, ER...we were duelling. I hit him with the Cruciatus curse two times and after that he was really bloodied up. Cuts and bruises all over him. I hit him with some other pain curses too. I wanted him to feel what he did to everybody. And then I used the killing curse on him when he was too weak to do anything. I think because I just had so much anger towards him, it just deformed....mutilated him." He stopped and swallowed hard. "I actually had to throw up after he died." 

"I thought you weren't allowed to duel with your wands having the same core."

"I wasn't using my wand."

"What?"

"I don't need to use my wand; I can and I did back then so that I didn't give my powers away. I would have thought that Dumbledore told you about them. Godric Gryffindor's powers are in me."

"I knew you are related to him but I didn't know you had his powers. Your father didn't as far as I know.

"He didn't. I think it skips generations. That's what Albus said anyway."

"You sure did pick the time to leave. You could have had anything you wanted there. Any witch or wizard was willing to give their lives to you because you killed Voldemort. You would have had even more fame."

"Fools." Harry muttered under his breath. This was why had run. He couldn't cope anymore. Harry didn't want to be a famous wizard anymore. The Boy Who Lived. And the impending fame that was to come with his victory over Voldemort. All the deaths that had come by it. No, he had had no choice.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?" "Where did your scar go? Did you have that ridiculous Muggle thing done? Plastice surgery?"

Harry laughed. "Plastic, not plastice. And oh gawd no. I never needed surgery to get rid of it. It.....it just disappeared after I killed Voldemort. If I would have known it wasn't there anymore when I told Dumbledore I was leaving, I would have asked him. He always seems to know everything."

"You...you told Albus you were leaving?"

"Yeah, why didn't he tell you? I asked him to."

"Oh Harry, you don't know do you?" Harry's face paled.

"Know what?"

"After the Death Eaters learned their Master had fallen, they stormed the castle and...they killed him. It must of been just after you left."

_Harry ran through the familiar hallways of Hogwarts towards Dumbledore's office. Blood streaming down his forehead and into his eyes. Limping from an injury in his leg slowed him down a good deal. Blinded by blood, he ran straight into something which turned out to be Dumbledore._

_"Albus! He's gone, I just killed him. He's finally gone for good."_

_"Great wizards, Harry. I knew you could do it. The whole wizarding world will be forever in your debt." A dread fell over Harry. All the funerals, all the trials of captured Death Eaters. Even more fame. Being thrust in the spotlight for something he never wanted, never even asked for. Ruined friendships that will probably never be fixed._

_"I can't stay here anymore. I can't take it anymore. Its going to too much. Please tell Sirius that I left and that I'll be fine and well, whoever else who might care enough about me."_

_"Are you sure that wise Harry? Stay here. Where will you go?"_

_"I don't know, but I just know I can't stay here. It's too hard. Please tell Sirius for me, I'm sorry. Goodbye Albus."_

_Goodbye Harry, I do hope you'll change your mind. You're still needed here."_

_"No, Voldemorts gone. Death Eaters, everyone can handle. I will talk to you again." He turned and ran out of the castle. A large group of hooded Death Eaters were swarming the castle a little way away. Harry raised his wand and killed 15 of them at once and tied another 20 up and took their wands. Ten more got past and through the castle doors. Harry ran on. There were people inside who could deal with them._

Harry crumpled onto the kitchen floor. "Oh no. It's all my fault. I killed a bunch of those Death Eaters and tied another 20 up. But ten got past and into the castle. I thought the aurors inside could handle them. It's all my fault." He smacked the floor. "Damn it! Just like everybody else. It was all my fault."

"Harry, you know that's not true. It could have been only one of those people that got to Albus."

"One more person I should have killed."

"Stop it. Look Harry, you're still not over all this. You need to be around people who understand what it was as like and what you went through."

"Nobody knows what I went through Sirius! Nobody has lived my life and until they do, they won't know."

"Yes, I realise that. But Muggles can't give you the support you need. Just come back."

"I can't Sirius. Don't you understand? I never _wanted_ to be found. I can't come back, it would be too hard. Just let everyone keep thinking I'm dead. It's better that way. Nobody but you will care anyway. Ron and Hermione certainly didn't care whether I lived or died before the battle."

"No that's where you're wrong. Those two have cried many tears over losing you. They would be overjoyed to see you again. It hasn't been easy for them either. They feel guilty. They feel like you just gave up trying and purposefully died to just let go. They have always taken all the blame."

"Well, it's not all their fault. They were part of my departure from England though."

"Just come back. If even just for a little while."

"No, Sirius! And you are not to tell anybody that I'm alive. They'll want to see me and I don't think I want to be seen. And plus you'll want me to stay and get a job. But there are no jobs for me. I'd be lost I'm already really successful at what I do here."

"Yes, but do you like it?" Silence for almost a minute.

"Well, of course I do."

"Took you a while to figure that out. And plus you've already got a job."

"What? You're already got me lined up for something? How could you when you don't even know if I'll agree to it or not?"

"First of all, I didn't do it. They contacted me about you."

"Who's they?"

"ER-Chudley Cannons." Harry's mouth dropped.

"What? How do they even now about me. Well I mean me being able to play Quidditch."

"Well, every year, all the schools send recordings of games to Quidditch teams. Yours was somehow misplaced at the Chudley Cannons office. And it wasn't until about two years ago now that they found the recording of you playing. They've been giving me money so I could find you ever since. They really want you as their seeker."

"This is ridiculous! Do they even realise that I've been living as a Muggle for the past five years? I haven't been on a broom for that long. I wouldn't be able to play." Harry finally got up from the floor and started pacing the floor. "Let me think about this. I'll go take a shower and then we'll talk again." Sirius settled himself in the living room and was absentmindedly flipping through T.V. channels. He quickly got bored and shut it off with a yawn. After 15 minutes of waiting, Harry came down fully clothed, _(Finally!)_ in a Muggle pair of jeans and a Ralph Lauren T-shirt.

"OK, I'll do it. But on one condition."

"What's that?"

"I'm not going as Harry Potter."

A/N: Please please review!! I would like some CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. No flames. I'll use them to make s'mores. This is kind of boring right now but there is more action to come!! Quidditch games in the future, kidnappings, romance, angst, et cetera, et cetera. Put it this way, this story has it all!! :) 


	2. Chapter Two

A/N: I do not own any characters. No money is being made off of this story. Do not sue me.

**Chapter 2**

"I'm not going as Harry Potter."

"What? How is that even going to be possible? They want _you._ Harry Potter."

"Yes, I realise that. Get the manager over here and I'll explain. I'm hooked up to the Floo Network in one of my rooms. You can also talk to him/her through there. Let's go." Within five minutes they had the manager's head revolving in the fireplace.

"Ah, Sirius! Do you have any news on Mr. Potter?"

"Before I say anything Dan, you need to come where I am so we can talk. Use the Floo Network. Say Newark Mansion and you'll come here."

"All right, stand back." Seconds later a tall thin man with a large bald spot on his head appeared out of the fireplace. "Good to see you again Sirius." he exclaimed while shaking his hand jovially. "Who's your friend? Is this his mansion?"

"Yes it is, this is Harry Potter. Harry this is Dan Smalls, the manager for the Chudley Cannons." Harry stepped forward with grace and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Smalls."

"Oh please, call me Dan." Harry noticed the flick up to his forehead. "Sirius, are you sure...I mean to say, is this really Harry? I mean, he hasn't got the scar like everyone says."

"No, it disappeared after Harry killed Voldemort."

"The rumours are true then?" he said excitably. "No one has known for certain what killed him because everybody thought he killed you first. How extraordinary." he finished still staring at Harry in amazement.

"Er-shall I make tea, coffee?"

"Tea would be good, thank you."

"Follow me then." Harry led the way to the kitchen and sat them at the kitchen table where there was also a spectacular view of the ocean.

"Wow! What a view you have here! Where are we anyway?"

"Los Angeles, California."

"Oh! I've never been to the States before. Have you even looked here before Sirius?"

"Not in California. I thought that he might stay out east like in New York or Massachusetts. It angers me that I never checked here. I could have found him much sooner."

"Ah well, too late now! We've got him now I dare say! Yes, hopefully he won't slip through our fingers again." He winked at Harry as he brought three tea cups over with some food on a plate. Dan looked around thoughtfully. "Gracious Potter. A house this big and no house elf in sight. However do you manage?"

"Oh well, I've got maids who come and clean everyday on work days. And I can't have one wandering around when I've been living as a Muggle for five years here. My friends would wonder what it was."

"A Muggle? Why would you want to live as a Muggle?"

"Complicated circumstances that I can't even begin to explain right now. And that is one thing that's a problem if you were to sign me onto the Cannons."

"If, is hardly a word in our vocabulary when it comes to you Harry. We want you on the team and will do whatever it takes to get you on."

"OK, well one of the things is, is that I wouldn't want people to know me as Harry Potter."

"What? Why not?"

"Because I don't want to be all over the papers when it comes out that I'm still alive. I know I still will be because I'd be a famous Quidditch player most likely. But there would be all the hype about me beating Voldemort four times until finally killing him. I just don't want to relive it until I'm ready and I'm not ready to yet. And since people don't really know what happened, they would want answers that I'm not willing to give. And so I would want to use the name I use here which is James Newark. And I would expect that to be kept confidential with the top people in the league. I don't know if I even want the players knowing, but if they would need to know then fine."

"OK, yes that's all understandable and I'm sure we'll be able to work it out. Now there's another thing, I understand?"

"Er-yes." Harry scratched his head and continued. "I sort of haven't been on a broom for five years." Dan choked into his tea and his eyes became wide as saucers.

"Good gracious, Harry." he managed to stammer. "Well, naturally I'll need to see you fly then and if I'm satisfied by your flying skills then we will still sign you on. Do you have somewhere around here so I can see you fly?"

"Oh, yeah there's a place we can go to. We can only apparate out of the grounds so we'll need to use Floo powder to get there." They made their way back up to the locked room and walked inside. Harry went to the glass case and took it down to get his Firebolt out.

"I hope it still works all right; the league is using Firebolt 1000's now correct? The 2nd version?"

"Yes, we are."

"Oh dear, it should be all right, I do take good care of it, still do polish it sometimes. Well lets go." They all went through the fireplace and landed in a Muggle gym. Although the Muggles couldn't see them. There was a brick wall with a mural of a large park on it.

"It's just like Platform 9 3/4. Lets just lean on it." Sirius and Dan followed orders and leaned on it and they all fell through and were completely amazed by what they saw. They were in a large open area where there were four Quidditch stadiums situated near each other and then there were picnic areas and open fly areas. It was a bright sunny day out that was almost blinding. There weren't many people yet since it was still only 9 AM. They walked to a broom shed and brought out a golden snitch to let Harry practice on.

"Don't let it go yet. I want a go on the broom before I look for it." Heart pounding loud and hard, Harry mounted his Firebolt and took off. He laughed as the wind whipped past him. He forgot how naturally this came to him. It was almost like flying for the first time again but with no chance to show Malfoy up. He flew up high and started doing loop the loops and zigzagging through the stands, flying upside down, doing barrel rolls and then going into a steep dive before pulling up just before he would have hit. He was laughing the entire time. He hadn't felt so young, free and liberated in such a long time. He felt eleven again. And it felt good.

"OK! Let it go!" he yelled down to Sirius. Harry saw the glint of gold fly out of his hand and he gave it a minutes head start before diving to the opposite goal posts. He caught it within ten seconds when he started the dive. He released it again and started to talk to Sirius.

"I think this was a really good idea Sirius!"

"I knew you would once you got on that broom again!" Harry laughed and searched for the Snitch again. It was high above him. He wrenched the broom upward and flew after it. Harry flew down and landed by the two men goggling at him.

"Great wizards, that felt good. I haven't felt that young in ages!"

"Are you sure you weren't pulling our chain when you said that you haven't been on a broom in five years Harry?"

"No, I was quite serious. That was the first time since I was 19."

"Good gracious; and you actually had me worried about it. Well I can see that you have nothing to worry about. I'll have it fixed so that you'll be able to use the name James Newark. We'll be in touch." With that he apparated.

As soon as Harry and Sirius were back in the kitchen, they heard the doorbell ringing frantically. "Great wizards! What could be that important?" Broom in hand, Harry ran to the front door, turned off the alarm and opened the door.

"James! Thank God you're OK! I've been ringing the doorbell for five minutes. I was ready to call the police."

"Why would you even think that I was in trouble?"

"That maniac last night that I gave a ride here. If I hadn't had alcohol in me I probably would have refused him a ride."

"Steve, calm down! Its all right that you gave him a ride. Its probably done me a lot of good to speak to him again."

"Why?" he almost stopped speaking but then noticed the broom. "Why do you have a broom in your hand and why are your eyes green?"

"Well, duh I wear blue contacts." he completely avoided the question about the broom. Steve stepped into the house and grabbed the broom out of Harry's hand.

"You never do any cleaning beside the dishes. And this broom is all fancy. You can't even buy a normal broom, Newark." Harry shut the door as Steve took a closer look. "A Firebolt? What the hell is this?" He let out a yell of surprise and let go but the broom didn't fall to the floor. It hovered between them as if waiting for Harry to mount it.

"It was vibrating! And now its floating. What the _hell_ is going on here? First that guy tells me that your name is Harry Potter or some shit like that and you're running away from something and now this." He gestured his hand up and down the length of the broom. Harry didn't know what to do. He was frozen.

"Maybe you should tell him Harry. He's seen and heard that much. And he is your friend so you might as well tell him the truth." Harry looked over his shoulder to see Sirius standing behind him. He nodded his head. He had hoped he would never have to do this. Grabbing the broom he motioned the two into the kitchen. They spent the better part of the next couple hours telling Steve everything. Harry hoped that at the end of it all, Steve would still want to be his friend. They had been friends for five years and were just as close as Harry and Ron had been at one time.

"How am I supposed to believe all this?"

"Well for starters, you already saw this broom hovering in mid air. Here I'll show you." He got up and mounted the broom. His ceilings were very high so he didn't need to worry about hitting them the second he took off. He went for a rollercoaster ride through the large kitchen, and even did a barrel roll and almost ran into a glass wall but pulled away just in time. He dismounted and laughed.

"Oh man I've missed flying. Its the best thing in the world." Steve was staring with his mouth hanging open.

"This is unbelievable." he managed to mutter. "And I've never seen you act like such a kid as you did right now. I haven't heard you truly laugh like that...ever I don't think."

"Yeah, well I've had some things weighing me down. Like guilt about not telling Sirius I was leaving in person. Things are going to change now though."

"In what way?" asked Sirius hopefully. They looked at each other.

"Well for one, I'm coming back to England as soon as possible. I've just gotta get some things in order at work. Steve you'll be in charge of it now since you're right under me."

"You're really going to leave? Well what are you going to do over there? Will you even have a job?"

"Yeah, I'm going to play for the Chudley Cannons, a professional Quidditch team. Practice starts in a month just outside London." Sirius got up and hugged Harry.

"I'm so glad that you're finally coming back; even if its not going to be under your real name. I've missed you so much and I've been worried sick out of my mind. I really thought after a while that Voldemort got to you just like your parents. Everyone was telling me to give up but I wasn't going to give up until I found you or proof that you were dead. I've been so worried that I let you down just like I let your father down."

"Sirius, stop! You didn't let him down. It wasn't your fault. You know it was Wormtail and he'll get what's coming to him when he's caught again."

"That was a shame that he got away before the Dementor's could give him the Kiss. At least I got my freedom out of it."

"Yeah, I know. He better watch his back now that I'm coming back. He wouldn't want me catching him a second time."

"You're the one that caught him?"

":Yeah I thought you knew that. It was just a week before the final battle."

"That's probably why I didn't know. We didn't see each other for a while before that battle. Look, why don't we go to my place and we can look for a place of your own tomorrow in London. Steve can come to if he wants."

"Oh I have to be in to work on Monday."

"Oh Steve! You'll be there and I'll be there. Wizards don't travel by plane you know. We do things faster. I'll bring some extra clothes for you to wear tomorrow. Come on lets go upstairs." They went to Harry's room and he stuffed some clothes in for him and Steve. They walked across the hall to the locked door and opened it.

"I've never even been in this room before."

"Well, there's a reason for it. All my wizarding stuff is in here." Harry carefully folded up some robes just in case he needed them. He then quickly walked over to the fireplace and grabbed his wand from the mantle.

"Incendio!" The fireplace was full of flames again. "Steve, we're travelling by Floo powder. You'll have to come with me just in case. Just to warn you, its not the best ride ever. It still makes me sick and I use it all the time. Where to Sirius?"

"Black's pad." Harry laughed.

"Black's pad? Where did you come with that?"

"Well, it's a bachelors pad and Remus and I thought it was funny."

"Yeah you're right, it is funny. Just not in the way you think."

"Shut up and go."

"Maybe you should go first just to show him that it won't hurt."

"Why, what are we about to do?" Steve asked nervously. Sirius took a pinch of Floo powder and threw it into the flames.

"Black's pad!" he bellowed and disappeared into the flames.

"I'm not doing that! As badly as I want to see London. I'll have to pass. No way."

"It doesn't hurt. I promise." Before Steve could protest anymore, Harry grabbed him around the shoulders yelled out Black's pad and they both disappeared into the fireplace. Moments later they fell onto the ground in Sirius's living room. Harry rolled off of Steve who was coughing from the soot.

"That was terrible." he coughed.

"I told you it wasn't pleasant. But then again, only took a minute or less to get to London."

"We're really in London then?"

"Of course."

"Harry? Is that you?" Harry jerked his head up and saw Remus Lupin standing next to Sirius.

"Re...Remus. It's good to see you."

"Bloody hell Harry. Where's your scar?" Harry ignored the question and asked him and Sirius one.

"There's not anyone else here is there?"

"Yes, there is. Why do you ask?" asked Remus.

"Because I don't want anyone else to know about me being alive. Bloody hell! Who's here?"

"Ron Weasley. We came looking for Sirius."

"Shit! Sirius, hide me somewhere."

"You don't want to see Ron?" he asked.

"I already told you my reasons, now hide me! Quick!" he hissed as he heard a door open in the hallway behind Sirius and Remus.

"There's a closet in the kitchen, go, you and Steve." Harry pulled Steve's arm and walked into the next room where there was a kitchen and next to the door going outside was a closet filled with non-perishable food items. They ran into the closet and closed the door but left it open a tiny crack so they could see out. Voices from the living room drifted in to meet their ears.

"Sirius! We've been looking all over for you. Where did you get off to?" It was Ron's voice. Harry desperately wanted to go out and see him but he fought the urge.

"Let's go have some tea and then we'll talk."

"Who's Ron?" Steve whispered into his ear.

"My best friend from school. I'll explain things to you later."

"Sirius did you hear that Draco Malfoy isn't the Seeker for the Chudley Cannons anymore? Seamus told me that they got someone new today. Too bad he's still on the team. He's a Chaser now. I want to know who this new guy is though. They're calling him their new secret weapon. He must be good."

"Er-yeah he must be." Sirius said with a slight smile and his eyes flickered over to the closet to where Harry and Steve were hiding.

"So, where have you been Sirius?" Ron finally came into view as he sat down at the kitchen table. He looked even more muscular and he had on circular gold glasses. He was wearing dark blue robes and Harry could just see some dragon hide boots on his large feet. Ron also had a goatee the same shade as his red hair and Harry thought that it actually fit him. His hair was also cut similar to Harry's and the hairline had started to recede and thin out. _Balding at 24._ Harry thought with a grin.

"Oh, I uh-thought that I had another lead on Harry so I went to check it out. But it was just another false alarm I guess."

"Damn. I wish he would at least contact us if he is alive. I'd give anything to have him back again. Hermione's starting to lose hope too. It's not helping that she's so emotional lately. Any mention of him is enough to make her break down completely. I certainly can't wait until October so she can be normal again. Man, those mood swings are horrible. Thanks Sirius." Sirius had set down a cup of tea in front of him and when Ron reached for it, Harry caught a glint of gold. _He's married. Hopefully to Hermione._

"You have no idea Ron, how glad I would be if Harry would just come out of hiding and tell everyone the truth. I know he's still alive and I wish people would stop saying he's dead." Sirius was looking towards Harry while he said this. Harry bent his head down. Every part of Harry's being wanted to go out there but he kept holding back. The whole time Ron had been talking, he kept putting his hand on the door handle but kept pulling his hand back. Just then he felt Steve's hands on his back and he was pushed out the closet door. Harry looked back at Steve when he caught himself on the table.

"Steve you dumb shit!" He waved his hand over his eyes to enchant them to look blue since he didn't have his contacts in. Harry turned back to see the three staring at him. Sirius and Remus both had nervous looks on their faces, while Ron's face was confused. Sirius and Remus kept taking nervous glances between Ron and Harry. Harry gave a smile when he realised that Ron didn't recognise him. He put on his American accent and strode over to Ron.

"I don't believe we've met. I'm James Newark.

"Ron Weasley." They shook hands, Ron was still squinting at him.

"Oh and this idiot is my friend Steve Legare."

"Nice to meet you." They chorused as they shook hands.

"Er-what were you doing in that closet?"

"Oh well, um for some reason Sirius put us in there to hide us. But that didn't work since he pushed me out. Could I have a cup of tea, Sirius?"

"Sure, would you like one Steve?"

"No thanks. Not much of a tea drinker myself." Harry took the chair next to Ron while Steve pulled one up between Sirius and Remus.

"So you must be Americans. What brings you here?" asked Ron. He was still completely mystified by what just happened but was covering it up. Harry took a look at Sirius, who nodded so Harry started.

"I've actually been offered the position for Seeker on the Chudley Cannons. Thank you Sirius." He took a sip of the tea that had been given to him. Ron got really excited.

"Really? Wow, that's great! I've already heard about you. You must really be incredible. My friend Seamus Finnigan said that you haven't been on a broom in five years and you wowed Dan Smalls a while ago with your skills. It seemed like he was hiding something about you from me. He kept trying to give me hints about it but I have no idea what he was talking about. Do you have any idea?" Harry nervously looked at Sirius.

"No, I have no idea what it could have been. How does your friend Seamus know about me already?"

"Well, him and another one of my friends Dean Thomas bought them this past January. They are the owners now. If you'll excuse me. I must use the bathroom." He walked out and they waited until they heard the door close. Harry let out his breath that he didn't even realise he had been holding.

"Thank goodness Hermione wasn't with him when Seamus was giving him all those hints. She would have figured it out. Are they married?"

"Yes, they have been for three years now. She's pregnant with their first child. Due in October, I think." Remus said. Harry smiled broadly.

"Good I'm glad. That's one thing I'll regret forever. Missing my two best friends wedding. I wish I could be there in the hospital when they have their baby."

"You can be there Harry. Just tell them. You don't have to tell anyone else."

"I don't know. I'll think about it."

"Well, its a start." sighed Remus. Harry drained the rest of the tea and excused himself to the living room. He sat on a couch and tilted his head back onto the couch and sighed. He could hear the whispers in the kitchen.

"Rough day?" Harry looked up and saw Ron standing in front of him with a kind smile on his face.

"You have no idea. It's been physically and emotionally draining."

"How has it been emotional?"

"Oh, long story that I don't want to bore you with. I uh, heard you talking about some girl earlier. Is she your wife?" A smile spread across his face and a glazed look went over his eyes.

"Yes, the love of my life. She's six months pregnant with our baby. We found out yesterday that its a boy. We're going to name him Harry James." Harry swallowed back tears.

"You seem so sure, are you naming him after someone?"

"Yeah, one of our old friends, Harry Potter. Surely you've heard of him?"

"Of course, who hasn't.?"

"Yeah, we've been looking for him for five years now. He disappeared during the last battle with Voldemort." Harry gaped at him. _Ron said Voldemort_

"You said Voldemort." Ron looked at him funny.

"Yes I did. What's the big deal?"

"Well, no one ever says his name. I personally never understood why but I've never heard anyone besides myself and one of my teachers from school say it."

"I used to be scared to say it but Harry always told me to say it because it's just a name. I didn't start until after Voldemort was killed by Harry."

"How do you know he killed him?"

"Well, because who else would have been able to? Nobody but him would have been able to stand up to Voldemort and come out victorious. He did it four other times before he killed him. Harry's a great wizard." They lapsed into silence for a couple minutes.

"Man, I miss him. It was like losing my right arm when he disappeared." They were silent for a while and Harry almost broke when he saw a tear go down his old friends face. It reminded him of the last time he had seen Ron.

_"No. Just go Harry. I don't want to speak with you anymore."_ _But..."_

"But nothing Harry. You haven't done anything to deserve my friendship; I've been nothing but a good friend to you all these years and you turn around and do something like this."

"God, Ron. How can you be like this? We've been best friends for eight years and enemies with Malfoy for just as long. I can't believe you're taking his word over mine."

"Why shouldn't we believe him? He's a Death Eater. He knows these things and plus you have the mark on your arm."

"Your family believes my story. Why can't you? You're my best friend, Ron."

"Not since you killed my brother; we haven't been friends."

"I didn't Ron, I swear." Tears started to roll down Ron's face.

"I can't even stand to look at you anymore Harry. Don't come near me anymore."

Harry turned his left arm up and looked up at his inner wrist. There was a raw looking spot of skin where the mark used to be. He had found a surgeon to take it off. He rubbed it and could feel tears running down his face. He quickly wiped them away.

"I heard that you had some sort of fight with Harry before he disappeared." Ron looked at him surprised but didn't ask how he knew.

"Yeah we did. It was a terrible mistake on my part. I actually accused him of killing one of my older brothers, Percy. I don't know how I could have taken Draco Malfoy's word over Harry's. I mean, Harry and I were friends since our first train ride to Hogwarts and enemies with Malfoy from the same ride. I know I'm the reason he disappeared... He did a pretty good job of faking his death though. Everyone thinks he's dead. I know he's not."

"I'm sure you're not the reason he left. It sounds like he led a pretty stressful life. He probably couldn't take it anymore."

"Still I want more than anything to apologise to him. I'm so sorry for what I did to him."

"I'm sure he knows your sorry."

"I hope so." Ron stared thoughtfully at Harry. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were Harry. You kind of resemble him; except you know, he has the scar and green eyes and the most untidy hair I've ever seen," he laughed, "he could never control that mop. It was almost like talking to him right now. You two are a lot alike." He checked his watch. "Oh no. Hermione's going to be worried, it's 11. It was nice meeting you James." Ron stopped dead and muttered James again under his breath and then looked at Harry again with a questioning look. He then shook his head and stood up.

"You should come over for tea some time and meet Hermione."

"Yes that would be nice."

"Good." Remus and Sirius and Steve walked into the living room then. "I need to be heading off guys. Remus did you talk to Sirius about what we came here about?"

"Yes, and thanks for helping." he said sarcastically.

"Oh sorry. James and I were talking. Nice meeting you too Steve. See you all later I'm sure." With that he apparated. Harry let out a deep sigh of relief just as Steve let out a yell of surprise. Remus quickly explained what happened to him and then Harry turned to Sirius.

"I don't know about this anymore."

"Me either. I think you should just use your real name."

"No, I mean, I don't think I should be here anymore. I think I should go back. This was a mistake."

"What? Are you crazy Harry?" Everyone turned to stare at Steve.

"You're about to give all this up? And for what? A meaningless job, a nice house and a couple of friends. From what I've heard so far, you've got a pretty good life going here. You may not have any actual blood relatives but you've got these two, Ron and Hermione and countless other people besides. I can't believe you would give it all up again; I have never seen you as happy as you have been today. Don't miss out on this chance. Take the job with the Chudley Cannons and go play what's it called? Quit-Ditch?" Harry burst out laughing.

"QuiDDitch Steve. Quidditch." he sighed. "Fine but I'm still James Newark."

A/N: Please review!! Try to keep the flames down! Thanks so much to all those who have already reviewed!!

**LillSakura** Of course this is going to be H/G!! Who else?? :)

**Bucky**There's your answer as to why and when Ron and Hermione fell out with Harry. I didn't really say anything about Hermione but she went along with Ron at the time. I will most likely put more into the story about what happened in the past.

Next chapter we get to meet Draco Malfoy once again and the first Quidditch practice and game. I promise this story gets better as I go along! 


	3. Chapter Three

A/N: I do not own any characters related to Harry Potter. Except for Steve Legare. He's my creation.

**Chapter Three**

A month later, Harry was settled into a home just outside of London. It was a two story brick house with four bedrooms, two baths, a large office that was also a library, a kitchen, dining room, and living room. His home in LA sold for $2 million to one of his clients who also bought his cars. It was a wrench getting rid of those but he knew he wouldn't need them anymore.

The morning of the first practice arrived and Harry's nerves were at their highest. He hadn't played a real game of Quidditch since his 7th year at Hogwarts. He walked to his walk-in closet in his room after he took a shower to get changed. After he was dressed, he went to put in his blue contacts and then gel his hair. All ready, he apparated to the building in London where the offices were. He had a short meeting scheduled with Seamus and Dean.

He walked into a small room with two chairs against the wall for visitors and a desk where a woman with long brown hair sat. Lavender Brown. He almost went to give her a hug but then restrained himself when he remembered who he really was.

"Hi. Would you be Mr. James Newark?"

"Hello. Yes, I am."

"OK, good. Hold on a moment." She tapped her wand on a small screen that looked a bit like a Muggle television screen and spoke to it. "Seamus, Mr. Newark is here to see you."

"Oh good! Send him in. Dean and I are in my office."

"It's the door on the end of this hallway, straight back."

"Thank you."

"Your welcome; and welcome to the Chudley Cannons." Harry smiled and said thanks. He then walked down a hallway with numerous offices through doors. He caught various glances of people behind desks working. The very last door had Seamus's name on the door. He knocked and entered. He walked into bright sunlight streaming in through the window behind a huge desk. Sitting behind the desk was Seamus Finnigan and sitting in one of the two chairs in front of the desk was Dean Thomas. Seamus laughed.

"Harry Potter back from the dead. I never thought I'd see you again mate!"

"If it even is him Seamus! He's got no bloody scar on his forehead." Dean said jokingly.

Harry laughed. "Of course it's me you idiot." He punched him teasingly on the arm and then sat down in the chair to the left of him. "Damn, close those curtains. Its blinding me and I can't even see you properly." He said as he shielded his eyes.

"Sorry, Harry." Seamus flicked his wand and the blinds shut out the sun.

"Thanks." Harry got his first good look at Seamus and saw that he had hardly changed at all. He was tan right now and his hair was cut the exact same way it had been in school. The only difference were the subtle laughing lines that had appeared around his eyes. Dean looked just as young and vibrant as ever and he had his hair longer and in little two inch dreadlocks.

"So, Harry. What the hell happened to your scar?" asked Dean.

"Oh well it ah...kind of disappeared after I killed Voldemort."

"You did kill him? I knew you did! I mean to say, who else would have been able to? But I was wondering how you were going to pass for someone else with that thing on your face. Makes a lot more sense now. I wouldn't have known it was you if I hadn't been informed. Have you seen Ron by the way?" Seamus said this all very fast. Harry was still taking it all in when he answered him.

"Yeah, my first day back actually and last week. He still doesn't know it's me."

"You didn't tell him?" Dean asked dumbfounded.

"No, I'll do it someday but not now. Oh yeah and I hear that you, Seamus were giving him little hints about me. Please don't do that again."

"Ah, he's so thick anyway he never would have gotten it. But I won't do that anymore."

"Good, now wasn't I supposed to sign a contract now?"

"Yes you did read over the copy didn't you?" Seamus immediately went from friend to boss. Harry had to hold back a laugh. It didn't seem right to him for some reason.

"Yes I did. Very thoroughly."

"Good, well here you go, sign away." He handed Harry a quill and the contract which he signed immediately. "Ha! We've finally got you now. We've been looking for you since we took over. It was getting to be a right headache. Maybe that's why the previous owners sold the team to us. They were getting sick of looking for you! Well!" he slammed his hands down onto his desk. "We should get you to practice. We need to go by Floo." Two minutes later, they were in a locker room. Harry thought that it was kind of a weird place to have a fireplace and must have worn a confused expression on his face because Dean started. 

"You can't apparate in or out of here. Only players and us know the word to get here by Floo." Harry changed into his Cannons robes and waited for the rest of the team to show up. Slowly one by one they showed up. Harry stayed out of sight until Seamus and Dean called a quick meeting and beckoned him over.

"Welcome back to a new season everybody!" Harry blocked them out and looked around. His attention was immediately drawn to Draco Malfoy. He looked almost the same except he seemed to have grown taller and more muscular. His platinum blonde hair wasn't long anymore, but short and messily spiked up. Harry was annoyed to see that he looked just as smug as he always did. He stood with his arms folded across his chest and was looking disdainfully at Dean, who was speaking. Draco must have felt eyes on him because he looked at Harry and had to do a double take on him when he spotted his old enemy. They locked eyes for a few seconds and Malfoy seemed to be considering him, but then just shook head and turned his attention on Dean. Harry did the same.

"One of our biggest changes this year is Draco Malfoy asked to become a Chaser when Alicia Spinnet got sent to the Wimbourne Wasps. Taking his place as Seeker is someone we've been trying to track down for a couple years. His name is Har...James Newark." Seamus nudged him in the side when he almost said his real name. The team looked suspiciously at the two owners but then welcomed Harry warmly.

"James, this is Justin Connoly, Susan Bregg, Chris Webbing, Draco Malfoy, Shawn Canaille, and Cho Chang. Harry's eyes lingered on Cho and Draco before he said hi to them and shook everybody's hand. Draco came last after everybody and wouldn't let go of his hand.

"I feel like I know you from somewhere. Where are you from?"

"California, I'm sure I just remind you of somebody. I've been told many times how much I look like one particular person."

"Who's that?"

"Oh well, Harry Potter."

"Those were my thoughts exactly. Who said that you remind them of Potter?"

"Ron....Ron Weasley? I think his name was. Sirius Black, Dean and Seamus. Oh yeah and I've actually been accused of being him by Ron's wife, Hermione. I understand they were his best friends or something." 

Harry had just seen her the week before in Diagon Alley with Ron. Ron introduced them and Hermione burst into tears and flung herself around Harry's neck.

_"Oh you're such an idiot Harry for using your dad's first name. You should have known I'd find out. I've missed you so much, Harry. Why did you go? It was because of us, wasn't it? We were so stupid." Harry was taken by complete surprise. He just patted her back and looked at Ron for help. He pulled her off of him._

"Honey, that's not Harry. His name is James Newark." She started to get quite hysterical then.

"Oh Ron, open your eyes! Stop being so thick for once. Of course he is. Just because his scar isn't there, doesn't mean anything. There's a logical explanation for it. I know Harry andthat _is Harry James Potter!" People stopped dead in their tracks and stared at Harry._

"Hermione calm down. Oh for goodness sake people. He's not Harry Potter! He doesn't have a scar!" Hermione started breathing hard.

"Calm down. It's not good for the baby. Remember, he can feel whatever you're feeling. Deep calming breaths honey." Hermione finally sank into her husbands arms. Ron looked at Harry. "Sorry, being pregnant has really got her emotions screwed up lately. Only two more months now." He look extremely hopeful.

"I should go. I'm making her upset. I obviously look like Harry a lot to make her that upset."

"OK, I'll see you some other time then." Hermione looked up at Harry.

"Wait, can I hug you again?"

"Er-I guess so?" Hermione once again hugged him. Ron just shook his head at his wife and wandered into Quality Quidditch Supplies. She started whispering in his ear.

"You even hug like him. I know you're Harry. I don't know why you're trying to hide it. If you want to admit it in time for little Harry James's baptism, I would love it for you to be his godfather." She pulled away and saw a tear roll down his cheek which she wiped away.

"I'm not Harry." he said feebly She smiled weakly at him.

"Take those blue contacts out. You're green eyes are so much better"

Harry was jerked back to the present by Draco speaking. "That girl," he said laughing, "I ran into her the other day. She is quite unstable being pregnant. She was laughing, crying and then yelling the next. I got away as fast as I could. It was too bad though, her and I have become friends. I needed to talk to her; but I wasn't about to do it then. She was kind of scaring me to be honest." Harry couldn't hold back his surprise.

"What? You two are friends?" Malfoy cocked up an eyebrow.

"Yes, why are you so surprised?"

"Oh well, you know I've been hanging out with Sirius Black and I've just heard a lot about Harry and his friends. And I was under the impression that you were enemies with them." Draco was still looking at him suspiciously.

"Well, yes. We were enemies. Ron and I are still. He loathes me. I've tried making amends with him before but he's absolutely impossible. I don't think anything will ever turn him. Well, we better get out there. They'll be wondering where we are." Harry walked out to practice with Draco. He was completely bewildered. What the hell happened to him? It disturbed Harry that Malfoy was being nice and actually _wanted_ to be friends with Ron and Hermione. It led him to wonder if the two of them would be friends if he hadn't left five years ago. Harry figured that it probably all went back to Lucius Malfoy. It was a known fact that Draco hated his father now. He made the fact known back in 6th year. But as far as Harry knew, he still followed his father into becoming a Death Eater. Harry had to leave his thoughts behind as he started practice.

Practice went very well for Harry and his team-mates were very happy with him. As practice came to an end, everyone was excited.

"The cup is as good as ours this year with James here!" one of them exclaimed as everybody voiced their consent. Harry stayed behind everyone and flew around for a while. He decided to attempt some things that he had taught himself in his last years at Hogwarts. He stood up on his broom and flew across the stadium. Slowly at first but then once he got the hang of it again and so he flew faster. After that he hung upside down with his knees bent over his broom, hands dangling below his head. He noticed a head of blonde hair standing next to the door of the locker rooms looking up at him. Harry did a back flip off the Firebolt 1000 and caught it again with his hands. Swinging his legs over the broom, he tore down the field again before landing in front of Draco Malfoy. Draco had his all too familiar smirk on his face.

"Funny, the only person stupid enough to attempt those moves 50 feet above the ground was Harry Potter." Harry kept his face impassive.

"Well, not anymore I guess."

"Tell me, _Newark,_ Did you happen to learn how to fly from Potter or are you?"

"Am I what Malfoy?"

"Are you Potter? Your flying style is exactly like his and not to mention you have his annoying ego while playing Quidditch." Harry fumed but tried to keep his face relaxed.

"I can see that you're not very bright Malfoy because neither of your insinuations are correct. I suggest you think about the absurdity of the things you think before you voice them. Now if you don't mind, I need to take a shower so I am not late for my later appointments." Harry walked into the locker room feeling very smug. Malfoy actually didn't know what to say. Harry thought that hell must have frozen over.

~*~*~

A month later, Harry and Sirius were sitting at the table in Harry's kitchen eating breakfast. A large tawny owl flew in the window holding Harry's copy of the Daily Prophet. Harry opened the paper up as soon as the owl took flight once again. On the front page was a picture of Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas.

**_The Cannons New Secret Weapon_**

_The Prophet has recently been informed of a few changes to the Chudley Cannons. Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who bought out the team in January of this year have found a new Seeker. _

Don't fret faithful fans of Draco Malfoy. Malfoy has been changed to a Chaser. Apparently he put in the request to be a Chaser after Alicia Spinnet transferred to the Wimbourne Wasps. We could not Mr. Malfoy to comment any further on the matter. Although, he did speak to us about the new Seeker.

"I don't even know why they signed him on to the team. I heard that he hasn't even been on a broom for five years before last month. And they're calling him our new secret weapon?" Indeed those rumours are true. As confirmed by Dean Thomas. The new Seeker hasn't been on a broom for that long.

"We have a lot of faith in his ability. He is a very talented player. Contrary to what Mr. Malfoy thinks." The Cannons have apparently been looking for this man for two years.

"The previous owners had misplaced the recording of him playing for his school when is was sent in. They found it two years ago and have been looking for him ever since. He was actually believed to be dead by those who were close to him." stated Seamus Finnigan.

The new Seeker's name is being withheld until the first game; which happens to be tomorrow against Ireland. Is the new secret man all that he is cracked up to be? There's only one way to find out.-Sarah Donner

Harry shook his head as he put the paper down. "Honestly, if anyone is going to let it slip who I really am, its going to be Seamus. Does he honestly think that they won't ask questions as to why people thought I was dead?"

"I don't know. Well...you know you have time to change your mind about the name thing. Give them permission to use your real name tomorrow at the game."

"Sirius, this conversation is starting to get repetitive."

"Yes, but you really shouldn't lie about who you are. Have you seen how its affecting your old friends to not know where you are? Or if you're even alive?" Harry laughed.

"Well, Hermione seems to have figured me out. You know every time I run into her in Diagon Alley she asks me to be the godfather to their baby. And she keeps calling me Harry. Ron is getting really embarrassed with her."

"That's another reason to be yourself Harry. You'd get to be little Harry's godfather. That way we'd both get to be godfathers to a Harry James. Maybe if you're lucky he'll get your name cleared too so you won't have to go to Azkaban. And maybe you'll have just as much fun being his godfather as I have had being yours." he smiled roguishly while Harry laughed.

"Somehow I doubt that I have been any fun. I caused you worry for the entire time I've known you. First Voldemort was after me and then I disappear without a trace. Yeah that's what I call fun."

"Ah, but you're only looking at the bigger picture. I'm looking at the smaller things. You know the kind of things I'm talking about." Harry nodded his head and sipped his coffee. "God knows I would love to actually do something with you outside for once. You realise that for as long as we've known each other we've never been able to go and have fun without worrying about people seeing one of us. Maybe if you weren't embarrassed to be seen with me..."

"Oh shut up. It would be too obvious if someone we knew saw us together. People already suspect who I really am."

"Yeah, yeah."

"And don't say it. I know, I should just come out and say who I am." Sirius held up his hands.

"I wasn't going to say anything. So, when is Hermione's due date?"

"Two weeks, October 8th."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know Sirius. God, I just don't know."

~*~*~

The next morning, Harry was in the locker rooms changing into his Chudley Cannons robes. Nerves were affecting everybody in the room. Harry even saw Malfoy chewing his nails and staring into space. Harry figured he was worried about what people would say about his Chaser abilities. In Harry's opinion, Malfoy was a better Chaser than Seeker. Fifteen minutes before the game, the Captain and Chaser Justin Connoly got up for a pre-match pep talk.

"OK, guys and ladies, we've been working extremely hard since we started practice. The games in the bag. James just do what you've been doing and we'll blow Ireland out of the water. Webbing, Canalie, remember that Ireland has very good Chasers, show them no mercy with those bludgers. Do whatever it takes to knock them off course. Malfoy, Cho, remember all the formations we've got and as long as Webbing and Canalie do their job with the bludgers, we'll score. Bregg you know what to do. You're the best damn Keeper the Cannons have ever had. This will be the best ruddy team in the world this year and next! The cup will be ours for the taking!" An eruption of cheers came from all seven players and echoed off the stone walls. They headed for the doors and then flew up and around the stadium amid cheers and orange flags waving like mad. Harry felt his nerves leave him as he flew, as they always did in the thrill of flight and the excitement buzzing off the crowd. The commentary soon fill Harry's ears.

"Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the season! And the first team on the field are the Chudley Cannons. Chang, Malfoy, Connoly, Webbing, Canalie, Bregg and introducing James Newark as Seeker!" The crowd erupted in cheers and Harry saw a sign go up that said, 'Go James!' He laughed and figured it must be Sirius and Remus.

"Hey Newark! Stop!" Harry stopped just as Justin pulled up next to him. "Are you nervous?"

"Um, a bit. It always gets better once I get in the air."

"Good, I wish I was like you. I get even more nervous when we take off."

"Well, at least you don't have an image to live up to before you even played your first game."

"Yeah, but you'll be all right. You're great a Quidditch." He took off for another lap around the field. Harry was about to take off when he heard someone whistle at him. He turned and saw that he was about ten feet above the highest stands. A girl of about 20 was waving at him. Harry waved and gave her his sexiest smile and winked. She laughed and yelled,

"You're completely gorgeous!" Harry looked around to make sure it wasn't time for the game to start but Ireland was just coming out of the locker rooms. She was in the front row in her section so he flew down in front of her. He took her hand and kissed it.

"So are you." he whispered. She turned a deep shade of red and a weird sort of gurgle escaped her throat.

"Hey Newark!" yelled a drawling voice. "This is a Quidditch game not a place to pick up girls!" A voice in the stands shouted back at Malfoy.

"Oh shut up Malfoy! You did the same thing to me last season _during_ the game." Harry laughed

"Didn't I already tell you to think things through before you say them? You'll end up looking like an idiot." Malfoy scowled and made for Harry but the players were called into place. Harry wiggled an eyebrow seductively at the girl and flew away as she turned red again. _I might have some fun doing this._ he thought with a laugh. He positioned himself across from Ireland's Seeker, Aidan Lynch, who was in his final season. The bludgers, quaffle and then the snitch were released and the game begun.

Harry flew 20 feet above the game and began searching for a speck of gold. Lynch was following him closely.

"Ireland is first to take possession of the quaffle. Moran tears down the field, passes to Douglas to Boyd. Score! 10-0 to Ireland. Cannons in possession, Connoly, Chang, Connoly, Malfoy, ooh nice duck under that bludger. Chang, oh bad luck. Hit in the stomach by a bludger. Wind is knocked out of her. Ireland take the quaffle. Boyd puts on full speed, dodges one bludger and the other! Oh but wait! Chang, Connoly and Malfoy come up out of nowhere and make him drop the quaffle. Caught by Moran, Douglas now is possession. Nice aim! Beater Canalie hits the quaffle out of his arm. Quaffle caught by Chang, she tears up the field and passes to Malfoy, Connoly, Malfoy, he scores! 10-10. Oh and what's this? Newark is diving, closely followed by Lynch! I think they've seen the Snitch! Oh no. Lynch always falls for that. Newark did the Wronski Feint. Yes, he's above searching the field for the snitch while Lynch is being revived. You'd think he'd learn by now." Boos came from the Ireland fans at the commentary.

"Lynch is taking off now. Resume all play. Ireland takes the quaffle, Moran dives under Connoly passes to Douglas, nice save by Bregg, Cannons Keeper. Boyd catches it, passes to Moran, 20-10 to Ireland! And the Cannons are getting furious. They're really picking up the pace now. It's Chang, Malfoy, Chang, Connoly, foul! Excessive use of elbows by Irelands beater. And yes Connoly is lining up to take the penalty shot. 20-20! Boyd takes the quaffle, Moran, Boyd, Douglas, nice bludger work. Douglas drops the quaffle into Boyd's hands; good thing he was underneath Douglas. Boyd scores 30-20 Ireland. Chang take the Quaffle, Malfoy to Connoly, back to Malfoy. Ahh, Boyd and Douglas trap Malfoy from both sides. They've got Keeper O'Donnell out and he goes underneath Malfoy, Moran goes behind. Malfoy yanks up on his broom but Moran blocks his way very quickly. He's trying to speed up now to get out, no that's not working. Connoly gets overhead to get the quaffle but Beater Trundle hits a bludger at him. Ooh that had to hurt. Ireland team steered Malfoy into the side of the stands. Ireland catches the quaffle while Medi-wizards run to Malfoy on the ground. And Ireland scores!! 40-20!"

Harry began to get exasperated. He needed to get the snitch. The game was not going their way at all. Lynch wasn't following him anymore, although he did stay about ten feet in front of Harry at all times. Harry looked over at him to his right and saw Lynch get a smile on his face and then he started to dive. Harry panicked and started to dive after him but pulled up again when something caught his eye by the Cannons goal posts.

It was the Snitch!

He looked down at Lynch who was obviously attempting to Feint, and then he sped off in the opposite direction toward the posts. He dropped five feet as a bludger came at him and then rose 15 feet to be level with the highest post where the snitch was hovering. He laid flat against his broom and went after it. The commentary, the crowds, the wind were all drowned out of his ears as he concentrated on the little golden ball. Everything was silent, he could almost hear the wings fluttering. He stretched his hand out and closed his hand around the little ball, did a quick turn and went through the hoop with the snitch held high in the air. All the sound came back to his ears as the crowd erupted in cheers.

"The Cannons win 170-40! Newark's definitely as good as everyone says!" Bregg flew up behind him and slapped him on the back.

"Well done!" she yelled. He was closely followed by the rest of the team who also slapped him on the back. Malfoy came up last, even more pale than usual.

"Are you all right, Malfoy?" asked Harry with genuine concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I've had worse injuries than this." he gave Harry a weak smile. The team flew down to the entrance to the locker rooms after their victory lap but found it blocked. A giant crowd of fans had congregated at the entrance. Some wizards put up a faint yellowish shield around the team to protect them until they got a path cleared for the team. The crowd started to chant, 'Newark!"

"You're a star already James." Cho grinned at him. He smiled back. A star. Famous once again. It all came back to fame again.

_I must be made for it. I never ask for it. It just always comes to me. I hate fame. This was a bad idea. I should have come back to be an auror again not this. No I shouldn't have come back at all. Everyone will find out who I am anyway and make an even bigger deal out of it. God I hate being me. Harry friggin' Potter. The Boy Who Lived. What a tragic hero. What utter rubbish._ Harry bent his head and scratched it and felt like pulling all it hair out. He turned and looked at Malfoy who was staring at him funny.

"What? Do I have shit on my face or what? You don't have to stare. I hate people staring at me."

"Sorry, but you might as well get used to it." Harry shook his head and sighed.

"I tried before and I never got used to it." he muttered under his breath. Harry began walking down the newly cleared path with Malfoy staring dumbly at his back.

The team showered up and got dressed. The reporters started to stream in and each one took a player aside. Malfoy was giving one word answers to everything because he had his mind elsewhere. He turned and saw James talking and laughing with a reporter interviewing him. He heard him reply,

"July 30th and I'm 24." Malfoy shook his head and turned back to his reporter.

Thirty minutes later, Harry was the only one in the locker room. He stuffed all his robes into his bag so he could wash them, and swung his bag over his shoulder. He started to walk over to the fireplace so he could Floo back to his house in London when a person came out and pinned him up against the wall.

"You want to tell me who you are or not?"

A/N: I guess that is kind of a cliff-hanger. I hope it left you hanging and makes you want to come back for more!! HEHE! :) Please review!! I love reviews. They make me get the chapters out faster. Thanks so much to all the people who have reviewed already! You're wonderful! ;) Next chapter: The rest of this little fight at the end of the chapter here. We meet up with Ginny Weasley. Hermione goes into labour but will everything be OK with her? Threats and a couple new characters. 


	4. Chapter Four

A/N: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter. Please don't sue me.

**Chapter Four**

"Are you going to tell me who you are or not?"

"Malfoy! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"No, Potter that's not the question that needs answering here. What is, is where the hell did your scar go? And where the hell did you go the past five years?" Harry was taken completely off guard. He hadn't expected this. Malfoy could have gone about it in a less painful way.

"I don't know what you're on about Malfoy."

'Shut up Potter. You know perfectly well what I'm talking about. There's no point in denying it anymore. I heard you talking to yourself after Cho told you that you're a star already."

"W...what? I wasn't talking to myself."

"Yes you were. You may not have realised it but you were speaking under your breath about fame always following you around and how you never ask for it. And that people will find out about who you really are."

"Damn, I'm such an idiot. Malfoy...you can't tell anyone. I wouldn't be able to take it. I can't relive the past yet, its too hard. Please, Malfoy?" Draco let go of him and backed a couple feet back.

"What happened to your scar?" he asked in a gentler tone.

"It disappeared when I killed Voldemort. Please don't tell anyone, although I know you must be bursting to go run out there and yell for everyone to hear."

"Oh please, you think you know me so well."

"Well, it is something you would have done when we were back in school so you know I just figured."

"I've changed since school. Time does that to you. It's a little thing called growing up and realising how stupid you used to be." Harry didn't really know what to say to this pronouncement.

"Er-so you....won't tell anyone? Because not even Ron and Hermione know and I don't think I want to tell them yet. Although Hermione has already guessed, I just I haven't admitted to it."

"Does anyone else know besides me?"

"Dean, Seamus, Dan Smalls, and I'm guessing some other people from the Cannons, and Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black. Sirius is the one that found me and brought me back." Draco seemed to contemplate him for a moment.

"I'll keep it a secret; on two conditions."

Harry sighed, "what?"

"You accept my apology for being nasty to you during school and then we can be civil to each other for once. Maybe even become friends if being civil comes to that." Harry's mouth dropped open in shock.

"You...you're apologising to me? Why?

Malfoy sighed.

"Because I never wanted to be your enemy in school. All I wanted was to be your friend from the beginning but you made it kind of hard by being nasty and turning down my offer of friendship. Of course, I realise that I went by it the wrong way by insulting Weasley's family but that was my father speaking. I'm my own person now Harry. I just want to make things right before things go too far again; to the point we can't look at each other without casting out rude remarks to each other. It's already started up again and I'm really tired of it all."

"But...you killed Percy and you were a Death Eater." Draco shook his head.

"I didn't kill him. That was my father. It was all part of some stupid plan to turn all your loved ones against you. He used polyjuice potion to turn into me and tell Ron and Hermione what you supposedly did. And then after you disappeared, nobody believed it anymore. So he put the blame on me. That's why I went to Azkaban. And do you even see the Mark on me?" He pulled up his left sleeve to reveal his wrist. He was clean. "I never became a Death Eater. I rebelled against whatever my father did. Its a good thing I did."

"I read in the papers when you were put into Azkaban for his murder. And then they just put in a small article on when you were released. I mean, how did you get out?

"My father was caught and given Veritaserum. I was released shortly afterward with an apology and a reward." Harry stared in shock from all that he had just taken in. He finally came to his senses after a few moments and was able to speak again.

"Mal...Draco, I'm sorry for turning down your offer. I was dumb. I would like to be civil to each other. Maybe even friends, if it comes to that." he added with a smile. "And I'm not just saying that because my current life depends on you." They smiled at each other and shook hands. "Oh and Draco, don't call me Harry or Potter anymore. It's strictly James or Newark."

"I know. I'm not completely stupid." At that moment Sirius, Remus, Ron, Hermione and Ginny walked into the locker room. Harry did a double take on Ginny and couldn't help but stare at her with a glazed look on his face. She looked amazingly beautiful with her red hair flowing down to the middle of her back in soft waves. The red wasn't as harsh as it used to be but a darker colour. She wore dark green robes that complemented her hourglass body nicely. Ron smiled.

"That's my little sister Ginny. Ginny this is James Newark." They shook hands and Harry stared at her some more making her blush to the tips of her ears.

"You were in LA a couple months ago in a bar called the Oasis weren't you?" Ginny looked surprised but then recognised him.

"Oh yeah, I remember seeing you there."

"I was going to come talk to you but my friend Steve interrupted. Like he always does."

"You wouldn't have had any luck anyway. I try not to date Muggles since I don't know how they will react to me being a witch."

"Well, what are my chances now that you know that I'm a wizard?"

"Getting higher by the minute. Keep smiling at me like you did in the bar and I'll be with you in no time." Harry smiled broadly. She wasn't the shy girl that stuck her elbows in butter dishes that he remembered. Sirius cleared his throat loudly.

"We were going to take you out for a celebration lunch. How about it?"

"Sounds good!" He remembered Draco and turned to see him hovering awkwardly behind him. "Do you guys mind if Draco comes along?" Sirius and Remus looked the most surprised since they were the only ones other than Draco who were sure of his true identify. They agreed. Ron shot a look of death towards him, but Hermione gave him the same look and he backed off. Hermione went and linked her arm with Draco's and walked over to the fireplace, talking amiably with him all the while. They all Flooed over to the Leaky Cauldron and asked for a private room.

Soon they all had food in front of them and mugs of butterbeer. Conversation was quite happy the entire time. After they were done eating, Hermione who was sitting to the left of Harry; squealed with delight.

"Oh the baby is kicking again!" She grabbed Harry's hand and laid in on her bulging stomach. He felt a kick right beneath his palm. He smiled at her.

"He's going to be quite the Beater when he grows up." Hermione beamed.

"Our little Harry James. Nothing could be better since I've got the big one back too." she whispered. Harry's smile disappeared.

"Hermione...I'm not Harry."

"Of course you aren't." she said jokingly. Draco who was sitting on the other side of Hermione helped Harry out.

"Hermione, he really isn't Harry. I've already quizzed him. The results came out negative." She looked at Draco with tears in her eyes.

"Well, if he's not, then who is? Where is he? I...we need Harry back! I miss him so much. Ron tries to help me by holding me but the only thing I want when I cry about Harry, is Harry. Only he could make me feel better. I used to love his hugs. They were so warm and inviting. A hug only my best friend Harry could give. I never appreciated him as much as I should have. He was always so great to me and Ron. I love him. He's my brother; I just hope he comes back one day." A steady stream of tears fell down her face. She got up and walked out. Nobody else had been listening except for Draco and Harry.

Harry looked down into his lap and tried to blink down tears. They came out anyway so he excused himself to the bathroom but not before Ron and Draco saw his face. Harry walked down the hallway intending to go to the bathroom but stopped when he heard Hermione crying in a room to his left. He had a moments indecision and then as quietly as he could, he opened the door and closed it softly behind him.

She had her back facing him. He quickly cast a silencing spell on the room and went and wrapped his arms around her from the back and kissed her cheek. Her breath caught in her throat and she whispered,

"Harry?"

"Yes." he whispered into her ear. A sob escaped her throat and she turned around and fell into his arms without even looking up at him.

"I've missed you so much Harry. I've needed you for so long. So, was I wrong about James Newark then?"

"Not exactly." she pulled back but since it was dark, she couldn't see his face properly. She pulled her wand out and lit a fire in the fireplace.

"I knew I wasn't wrong. You don't look anything like you used to but I could just sense that it was you. It was something in your eyes that told me." She lifted a finger and traced the exact spot where his scar used to lie. "What's happened to it? And why did you run away?" Harry began to tell her the quick story. The same one he had told everybody else before.

"I'll tell you more when I'm ready. Right now, I can't; it's too hard. 'Mione I'm so sorry for causing you so much pain and worry. That's the last thing I wanted. So, um...if the offer is still there; I'd very much like to be Harry's godfather."

"Oh of course the offer is still there! Ron will be so happy to know who you really are. And I'm sure Ginny will be too. She seems really interested in you."

"Er-'Mione, I wasn't planning on telling them quite yet. I only told you because I saw how miserable it was making you and I wanted to give you one of my hugs." He grinned devilishly at her. She hit him playfully on the arm.

"Oh shut up. I really think you should but I will keep it a secret for you. Who else knows?"

"Sirius, Remus, and Draco."

"You told Draco before you told us?"

"I didn't mean for him to find out but he heard me muttering under my breath after the game today. I couldn't deny it anymore to him."

"So, that automatically makes you friends with him now?"

"No. He's not necessarily my friend yet but he agreed to keep my secret as long as I accepted his apology for being nasty to me during school and if we would be civil to each other. And maybe friendship could come out of it. So we're trying."

"That's good I'm glad. We always totally underestimated him in school. I just wish Ron would be more accepting."

"He'll come around I'm sure. We better get back. You go first. I was on my way to the bathroom before I came in here."

"OK, Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"I uh, can I have another one of your hugs." she said sheepishly. Harry grinned at her.

"You don't need to ask, honey." They hugged each other tightly. Harry pulled back and moved her hair out of her face and quickly kissed her on the lips.

"I've missed you, 'Mione."

"I've missed you too, Harry." They hugged again and walked out of the room together and went separate ways. Harry went to the bathroom and then went back into the private parlour. Everyone gave him a concerned look as he walked in.

"Are you all right James?" asked Ron.

"Yes, of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you seemed to have something troubling you when you left for the bathroom _half and hour ago_." Harry flushed.

"Oh well, I went to the bathroom and then went into the bar to get another drink but I got accosted by a bunch of women in there that had been at the game. I just got away, without my drink I might add. They nearly killed me." Hermione smiled at him. Ron accepted his story but Draco looked at him quizzically. Ginny and Hermione had switched places so that Hermione could sit by Ron. So Harry took his seat next to Ginny. They began a flirtatious conversation as Sirius, Remus and Draco conversed in low mutters and Ron and Hermione were feeling the baby kick. They ended up staying until a little after dinner. Ginny and Harry decided to go into Diagon Alley so Harry could buy her some ice cream and they would walk around and look in all the shops.

Draco, Remus, Sirius, Ron and Hermione all decided to head home. Ginny and Harry walked out of Florean Fortescue's fifteen minutes later with an ice cream cone in both their hands. They spent the next hour getting reacquainted with one another; or at least that's how it was in Harry's case. He found that she had a flat in Notting Hill and worked for the Minister of Magic.

"So, what was your last boyfriends name?"

"Oh, Neville Longbottom. That was a while ago though. I don't think I really was attracted to him. I was just trying to get over someone else that I knew would never return my feelings or come back home. Even now when I think of him, I get all light headed."

"Who was this guy?"

"You're probably sick of hearing his name but Harry Potter." Harry remained silent for a bit.

"This Harry seems like a bit of an idiot to give up his life here. I mean he had you fawning over him, Ron and Hermione. Sirius and Remus. And who knows who or what else."

"Well he obviously didn't think it so great that I was head over heels in love with him. Oh well, it doesn't matter anymore, he's gone. Probably for good; I should just forget him." Harry grabbed her hand.

"Just because he's gone doesn't mean you have to forget. If you want to be in love with him for the rest of your life than do it. Just don't forget to live your life." Ginny smiled at him.

"You know, when I saw you smiling at me in the bar, I thought that you would just be a womaniser or insensitive. More proof to not judge a book by its cover."

"Well, Gin you were more right about me than you know. I was a womaniser. I was from one woman to the next. But...I think I was just compensating for a girl that I never got to be with back in school. I loved her and I never told her. You're making me want to actually change my ways now. It's weird. I only met you this afternoon." Ginny smiled happily. _Harry was the only one to ever call me Gin._

"That better not be one of your lines, Mr. Newark."

"I promise you Ms. Weasley, I've never said that to anyone in my entire life." They were headed back into the Leaky Cauldron.

"I need to be getting home, I need to go into work early in the morning."

"All right, is it all right if I get in touch with you soon Gin?"

"Yeah, I would like that." He leaned in and gave her a soft kiss. "Talk to you later then."

"Bye." she whispered. With a last smile he disapparated.

~*~*~*~

The next two weeks were spent at Quidditch practice in the morning and two of those days at Quidditch games in Bulgaria and Russia. Both of which the Cannons won. Harry's fame was rising rapidly, it started to become unbearable at times. His free time in the evenings were spent with Ginny. Harry was falling fast for her again. But this time she was aware of it. He never thought it possible for him to be so completely enamoured by a woman when he hadn't even slept with her yet. Harry knew Ginny was still a virgin. She would never admit it but it was obvious. So he didn't want to push her into anything she didn't want to do until she was ready. Besides, he felt like he was being watched, every minute of every day. Everything that he did, ended up in the papers. It started the day after the match with Ireland.

That day, there had been a two page article on the game but it was focused mainly on Harry. The front page was plastered with pictures of him. The article went on about how old he was, when his birthday is, the fact that he was single. That fact was changed in a later article that divulged information on his relationship with Ginny. It was accompanied with a picture of them walking down Diagon Alley, hand in hand.

Harry wasn't allowed to go out alone anymore. The Cannons gave him two bodyguards that Harry gave two of his guest bedrooms to. He was reluctant but Dean and Seamus had been insistent. So now whenever he went out, he was flanked with the two men slightly behind him, making sure no witches got out of hand when they saw him. One witch had tried to start a fight with Ginny. That's when Harry started to appreciate the bodyguards.

October 8th came around and Harry and Ginny were heading out to dinner, flanked by their bodyguards; Greg and Brian. Greg was a massive wizard. He was a 6'5", 325lb man with a mop of blonde hair on his head. His personality was rather like Hagrid's. Caring and emotional but when people he loved were being threatened or being spoken badly about, his temper would come out full blown. He had taken to Harry and did it to anyone who made Harry angry. Brian was slightly smaller than Greg; 6'3" 290 LB and a dark complexion and dark blue eyes that gave him an eerie look. He was much gruffer than Greg but just as protective to Harry; not only because it was his job.

They were eating in a new fancy restaurant in Diagon Alley called Tanner's Fine Dining. As soon as Harry entered, a group of people surrounded Ginny and Harry. A couple of young witches were screaming hysterically and falling over themselves. Greg and Brian had to fight their way through to put some distance between the crowd and the couple. Harry graciously signed some autographs and took some pictures before being led away to a private room in back.

There was a large fireplace on one wall with a roaring fire going. On the opposite wall was a couch and some overstuffed chairs. The table that was set for two sat in the middle. Pictures of lilies decorated the walls, while a vase of the same flowers sat on the mantle.

"I like lilies. They're my favourite flowers. They are so beautiful."

"Really? Mine too. Why do you like them so much?" Harry contemplated his answer. He certainly couldn't tell her that his mother's name was Lily.

"I suppose its because they remind me of my mother. She loved them and my dad was always bringing them home for her." It was actually true. Sirius had just told him that a couple weeks beforehand when Harry had asked about his mother since he didn't know much about her.

"What happened to her?"

"Oh, uh they both died in a car crash when I was still a kid. I hardly remember them. But that's one thing I do."

"Who were you raised by then?"

"My er-grandparents." Harry was starting to get uncomfortable. He didn't like lying to her but he knew that he couldn't tell the truth about everything from his childhood. It would give away too much. Wringing his hands together, he searched for a new topic.

"So, today is Hermione's due date. Have you seen how she's doing?"

"Yes, I talked to her just before you picked me up. She is getting really irritable. I hope she goes into labour soon. Oh and she said that you're going to be the godfather...are you doing it just because she thinks you're Harry?"

"No, I think I've talked some sense into her about that. I'm doing it because I really like her and Ron and she asked me even after I told her I'm not harry. There couldn't be any harm in accepting."

"I hope not; she still looks at you like she knows something about you though. And when her and Ron asked me to be the godmother to little Harry; she asked me if I was still dating you. She went all funny. I don't even know how to explain it. She really wants us to work out because she seems to think it would make me really happy later on when I figure something out. God only knows what she meant by that." Harry shrugged.

"I don't understand 'Mione sometimes." Ginny cocked an eyebrow.

"You did it again."

"Did what?"

"You always call me Gin and you just called Hermione, 'Mione. Only one person ever called us that." _Shit. I gotta stop doing stupid things like that._

"Oh let me guess; the infamous Harry Potter."

"Well yeah, sorry but you two are a lot alike in ways."

"Yes so I've heard. Well, I like giving people nicknames I guess." At that moment, a face popped up in the fireplace.

"Ginny?" It was Ron. Ginny got up and moved to the fire.

"What's up Ron?"

"Hermione. She went into labour about two hours ago. I've been trying to get a hold of you. I wouldn't ask you to come right now but here are already complications and I just...kind of want somebody here with me right now. I'm not allowed to see her right now. Oh and she wants James to come to. We're at St. Mungo's right now."

"OK, we'll be there in a couple minutes."

"Thank you." His head disappeared from the fire.

"I'll go inform Greg and Brian." Harry got up and opened the door. The two men were sitting on either side of the door in chairs. They immediately stood up when the door opened.

"Something wrong Mr. Newark?" asked Greg.

"We need to go to St. Mungo's. Ginny's sister in law went into labour and is having complications."

"OK, we'll apparate to the front door of the hospital and secure the area. Come one minute after us." They apparated and Harry walked back inside the room.

"Greg and Brian are securing the area now. Are you all right Gin?" She had tears running down her face and was taking deep steadying breaths.

"What if she's not okay James? I wouldn't know what I'd do if she died. I love her so much."

"Hey, she'll be fine. The doctors at St. Mungo's are the best you'll find. Just don't think about that all right?" he wrapped her in a tight embrace and kissed her forehead. "We need to go."

"OK, thank you James." He gave her a smile.

"No problem." They apparated and reappeared in between Greg and Brian. Greg steered Harry into the door and Brian took Ginny. Some people who were outside, screamed,

"It's James Newark!" That made everyone turn their heads and mutter in excitement. They picked up the pace and got inside the hospital. A nurse sitting behind the receptionist desk gave them directions to the maternity ward. They ran as fast as they could down the hallway to a magical elevator to the 9th floor.

Ron was waiting outside the door looking ashen face. Ginny flung her arms around his neck.

"Ron, how is she doing?"

"They don't really know right now. It's too early to tell now. She's in a lot of pain. The pain potions aren't doing much."

"Are we allowed to see her?"

"No, I'm still not allowed in. I can't even be with my wife while she's giving birth to my baby!" Ginny sensing a fit of rage coming went in a different direction.

"Let's go get you something to drink. And then we'll go into the waiting room."

"All right, might as well."

"James, do you want anything?"

"Sure some coffee would be good."

"We'll be right back." Harry started towards the waiting room with Greg and Brian close behind. They shut the door behind them and sat down in some chairs. Harry put his face in his hands.

"Mr. Potter? Ron and Hermione are your old friends from school right?" He lifted his head and nodded his head wearily at Brian. They had been informed of his identity.

" I know we're alone guys, but don't call me by my real name. It's too risky."

"Sorry Mr. Newark."

"And don't call me that. Call me James. I hate being called Mr. Newark."

"OK, Are you ever going to tell anyone who you really are?"

"Possibly the Weasley's, Hermione knows already. She guessed." he laughed, "That girl is too smart for her own good." His face immediately turned solemn. "I hope she's going to be OK." The door opened and let Ginny and Ron in, holding five Styrofoam cups of coffee.

"Here Brian, Greg, I thought you could use some as well. You've got a tiring job."

"Thank you Ms. Weasley." They chorused. She laughed at the two.

"Honestly, you can call me Ginny."

"OK," replied Greg.

"James, one of the nurses gave me this to give to you. An owl just dropped it off." Ron handed him a letter addressed in red ink. "I think they would have preferred to give it to you in person." He winked at Harry who groaned.

"I thought that that part of the job would be fun but now that I'm with Ginny, I'm starting to get kind of annoyed." Ginny blushed furiously as Harry gave her the smile she loved. He then turned his attention to the letter. _Mr. James Newark_ was written out in neat handwriting on the front of the envelope. He opened it up and gasped as he looked at it. There was a light skull with a snake protruding from the mouth behind the writing. Much like a Muggle stationery paper would be decorated; except without the flowers.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing." he looked down and read the letter.

_Dear Harry Potter,_

We have been looking for you for quite some time now. Luckily for us, someone has been kind enough to tell us who you are. You have made a grave mistake by re-entering the wizarding world. For you are not safe anymore. Just because our Master didn't get the chance to kill you, doesn't mean we won't get that chance.

Hoping to meet you soon, Harry Potter.

Harry's face turned pale and he swallowed hard.

"Shit." he muttered. He folded up the letter with shaking hands and then picked up his coffee and spilled it all over himself staining his red robes black. "Damn it!" he stood up and peeled his wet robes off his skin. Greg stood up.

"What's wrong James?" Harry threw the letter at him and whispered not to show anybody but Brian. He turned around to face his seat and Ginny who was staring at him concerned. Pretending not to notice her stare, he picked up the empty cup and threw it away. There was a mirror a little to the right of Ron so he went and looked in it at the damage. He stuck his hand in his pocket for his wand but it wasn't there.

"Where the hell did my wand go? I have a knack at losing it when Death Eaters are about." he muttered quietly to himself remembering the Quidditch World Cup 11 years earlier. Ron looked at him and raised an eyebrow. Harry didn't notice his stare and waved his hand over the stain and saw it disappear in the mirror. He turned to see Ron's mouth drop open.

"I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be right back. No, don't come guys. I'm capable of going by myself."

"But James.." protested Brian who had just finished the letter.

"I've had more than enough experience with these people, and I'm not about to let them ruin my life once again. It's happened too many times before. Now if you'll excuse me." He turned his back on them and left the room. When the door was closed, he leaned against it and took deep calming breaths. Ron's voice could be heard from inside the room.

"He...he just did wandless magic. Not many people can do that. You know I'm starting to wonder if Hermione was right about him. I think he is Harry. Harry could do wandless magic because he was the heir of Gryffindor."

"Oh don't be ridiculous Ron!" exclaimed Ginny. "Of course he's not Harry. Harry has a scar on his forehead and green eyes. If you haven't noticed, he has neither."

"I know that's what I keep telling myself. But they are so much alike..." Harry couldn't bear to listen, so he walked in the direction of the bathroom. When he walked by the nurses, they fell into a hushed silence. He ignored them and walked into the bathroom. When he emerged, he walked to the same nurses.

"Hi, could you tell me how Hermione Weasley is doing?" A nurse of about 26 answered,

"I could take you to see her if you like."

"Yes, I would like that. Thank you." he flashed a bright smile at her, who smiled back shyly.

"It's this way. Follow me." Harry followed her down a long hallway and turned into a room at the end. "Take your time. The doctor won't be back for a while."

"Thank you." Harry looked at Hermione; she was sitting up against a bunch of pillows. looking out the window. "How are you feeling, 'Mione?" She jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Harry, I'm so glad you're here." she whispered He sat down beside her and kissed her forehead. Her face contorted in pain and she grabbed his hand. She started taking deep breaths. He felt like his hand was going to be broken into pieces but he didn't pull away. When she pulled her hand away, her face was covered in sweat.

"That was the worse contraction yet. I'm sorry if I hurt your hand, honey."

"It's all right. I'll live, you're the one giving birth here." He grabbed a cloth and ran it under a faucet and dabbed her forehead with it. He then took a brush to brush her hair into a ponytail.

"Can you grab me those ice chips on that table?" He grabbed the cup and handed it to her. She stuck a chip in her mouth and sucked on it. "Thanks. When are you going to tell Ron who you are?"

"He already suspects. I accidentally did wandless magic to clean up a coffee spill on my robes."

"Yes, but when are you going to tell him and more importantly Ginny?" Harry sighed.

"I don't know, 'Mione. Sometime." She tutted and stuck another ice chip in her mouth.

"Do they know if you're going to be all right?"

"I don't know. They might have to do a C-section. I'm sure I'll be fine." Harry stayed throughout two more contractions and then decided to go back so that Brian and Greg didn't worry.

"I'll try to get those nurses to let Ron in."

"Oh Harry, you used your celebrity to get in here?" she said in an exasperated tone.

"I just asked how you were and they brought me here." she smiled at him.

"I'll see you later then, Harry. Thanks for coming here, to the hospital I mean."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, 'Mione." he kissed her on the forehead again and walked out. Five nurses were at the receptionist desk when he went by. He decided to stop.

"Excuse me, since you let me in to see Hermione, could her husband go?" Another nurse smiled flirtatiously and said,

"Sure but only if you give us autographs." Harry laughed good naturedly.

"Is that all? Give me something to write on and a quill. There was a rush to find things for him to sign. The nurse that had brought him to Hermione's room, had him sign her underwear. He finished signing his name for them and started to walk away when one of the nurses who was his age squealed his name.

"James! Wait!" He turned and saw her running to him while the other ladies were trying to stifle their laughter.

"Yes?" he asked mildly. She flung her arms around his neck and stuck her tongue down his throat. Of course his immediate reaction was surprise but then he kissed her back for a short moment before pulling back.

"Why did you stop James? It seems you were enjoying it." she whispered.

"I've got a girlfriend and you just caught me by surprise. I think I'll go get Ron now so he can see his wife." Her face dropped noticeably.

"Sorry." he said but not really meaning it. What did these people expect from him? To sleep with every girl that stuck their tongue down his throat? Start a long term relationship with them? It was something that Harry would never figure out. It was she who needed to apologise to him. The elevator opened up to his right and a reporter, cameraman and a large group of his most adoring fans emerged.

"Oh shit." he muttered and ran for the waiting room with the mob on his heels. He groaned when he heard that nurse telling the reporter that she kissed him. He flew into the waiting room and slammed the door shut and burst out laughing. Between gasps he managed to stutter, "My fan club has arrived. I don't know how its grown so fast." Ginny got up and led him to a couch while Brian locked the door and closed the curtains on the window where people were looking in.

"It's because you're so damned good at Quidditch and ten times sexier than you are good at Quidditch. And that's saying something." He smiled at her beaming face.

"You're the only person I care to hear that from." he leaned forward and gave her a passionate kiss.

"Oh please, get a room." Ron grimaced. Harry looked at him and grinned.

"This is a room the last time I checked. And I wouldn't be rude to me just now. The nurses are allowing you to go see Hermione right now because of me."

"What did you do?" Ginny asked.

"Well, I politely asked them that since they let me in to see her that he should be able to. So they asked me for my autograph so they could accept you." Harry rolled his eyes. "Pathetic. Well better get going. I told Hermione that I'd send her dear ickle Ronniekins on his way!" Harry snorted at the look of disgust on Ron's face.

"Did you know that that used to be a joke between Harry and Hermione? They always used to call me dear ickle Ronnikins. Funny you should say that. Did she tell you?" Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat while thinking that he should open mouth and insert foot.

"No I just said it. I really wish I would stop reminding everybody of Harry."

"Sorry"

"It's not your fault. Well, go."

"Thanks James. I owe you one."

"No problem. And no you don't. You deserve to go see your wife." They smiled at each other and Greg escorted Ron out as Harry turned back to Ginny. "I should probably tell you before you see it in the papers tomorrow."

"See what?"

"Er- well one of the nurses got a little rambunctious and stuck her tongue down my throat. I heard her telling the reporter as I ran in here." Ginny frowned.

"Well, just as long as you didn't enjoy it."

"Certainly not. I'd rather kiss a hippogriff. That's why I was so eager to kiss you again. I like kissing you." He was leaning toward her as he was speaking and kissed her again. Brian cleared his throat and they broke apart.

"Ginny? Are those your family members outside the door?" Ginny got up and looked out the window.

"Yes, let all the redheads in and Angelina. I'll show you her." Harry stood up nervously. He hadn't been with all the Weasley's in a long while. Brian opened the door and let the Weasley's in who was closely followed by Greg. A girl whom Harry didn't get the chance to see properly came flying into the room and threw herself at Harry. He grunted as she knocked the wind out of him and they fell back onto the couch. She started covering his face with kisses. He tried pushing her off but with no success. She had a very strong grip on him.

"Brian! Greg!" he yelled irritably. "Get this girl off me and get the hospital security. This is a maternity ward for goodness sake!" He felt her being lifted off of him. He sat up and rubbed his ribs. Ginny laughed.

"James, you've got lip marks all over you! Mum, do you have something to wipe him off?" Harry looked up and saw Mrs. Weasley rummaging through a purse and pulled out a handkerchief. She looked older than she used to. She had some wrinkles on her face and some grey strands of hair were starting to appear. Ginny wet the handkerchief and started rubbing his face clean. She started to work on a mark by his eye and poked his eye. He felt his contact fall out. He quickly shut his eye.

"My contact fell out."

"James...your eye was green."

"No, I think you're seeing things. My eyes are blue. I need my contact " He summoned it under his breath and it flew into his hand. He pulled out a small bottle of saline solution out of his pocket that he carried with him for moments like these.

"No...it was green." Harry pretended to rub his eye and enchanted it to look blue and opened his eye.

"Nope, blue." She looked at him suspiciously while he put his contact in.

"Gin, I know what you're thinking. Harry Potter has green eyes and you think you just saw me with a green eye. I can't tell everyone enough that the things that make us alike are just coincidences. I am _not_ Harry Potter. No scar." He gestured to his forehead. "So will you please stop saying this? Besides right now, we've got Hermione and the baby to worry about. And you still haven't introduced me to your family."

"You're right, I'm sorry. It's just weird you know?"

"I know."

"OK, well anyway, James this is my dad Arthur and my mum Molly." They shook hands. "This is my brother Fred and his wife Angelina and that's George. This is Charlie. Where's the wife?" she asked.

"At work, she couldn't get it off on such short notice. Nice to meet you James. I've been reading about the games you've been in. You sound like you're an amazing player. I'm glad the Cannons finally have a good seeker. Malfoy sucked." Harry laughed.

"Thank you. Yes, I think he's better suited to be a chaser. He's still got some practice to do though." Harry and Ginny sat on the couch again and Harry wrapped his arm around her. Charlie and Harry continued speaking about Quidditch for a while before Mrs. Weasley engaged him in a conversation about Ron and Hermione. She seemed pretty suspicious about him as well.

Two hours after the Weasley's arrival, a knock came at the door. Brian opened it to find a nurse. She held out a letter.

"This came for James Newark a minute ago by a big black owl."

"Thank you ma'am" Brian said gruffly and took the letter, closed the door and turned to Harry.

"It's the same person."

"Just give it to me Brian." He took the envelope and tore it open..

_Dear Harry Potter,_

Getting reacquainted with the Weasley's I see. Do you still care enough about them to save them, by giving yourself up?

Harry let out a deep shuddering breath and closed his eyes tight. _I should have never listened to Sirius. Coming back here was a mistake._

"This can't happen again. It's too much for me to handle." he handed Brian the letter as he stood up and started pacing the room completely oblivious to all the eyes on him.

"James, who are those letters from?" Harry stopped his pacing and looked at Ginny. The haunted look that his eyes held for so many years grew more intense as memories washed over him.

"What won't you be able to handle?" He shook his head.

"Nothing, it's nothing. Don't worry about it. It's my problem." He stopped to think for a moment.

"James, you've got to do something about this right away. Alert the aurors and the Minister that's there's action going on. It's gotta be stopped before it gets out of hand like times before." Harry looked up at Greg who had spoken. Harry's face clouded over with worry, doubt, anger and fear.

"I know." he paused as if in deep thought. "I'll go now to the Ministry. Ginny, contact me once it's almost time for the baby to be born. Hermione wants me here and I don't want to disappoint her." Ginny was confused but agreed. Harry walked out with Greg and Brian behind him. Once they got out the front doors of the hospital, they apparated to the Ministry.

A/N: Please review. Thanks to everyone who has already reviewed. You people are awesome!! I've never gotten such good reaction from one of my stories. It makes me so happy! yaay! **Next chapter:** Harry speaks with the Minister of Magic, the baby is born, the 'actual' Harry Potter will make an appearance. Does that make sense? More things happen but I don't want to give away too much!! :) You'll just have to come back! 


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

They appeared in the apparition area on the side of the Ministry of Magic building. They rushed to the front doors.

"I don't know why we're even doing this now. There probably won't be anyone here right now."

"It's always worth a shot." replied Greg.

"I guess so. We'll try the Minister first. Though I doubt he's in. It's 11:30 already." They rode the magical elevator up to the 20th floor to the Minister's office. When the three emerged, they saw a light coming out of an office on the other side of the large room they were in. The room they were in was like a loft. It had a big desk with the name Virginia Weasley on a name plate. Two plants were situated on either side of the desk. There was a kitchen, a sitting area with big plush couches and chairs. A door to the left of the lit room was presumably the bathroom. They walked over to the room and knocked on the door.

"Come in." They opened the door and found a man sitting behind a desk who was about 45 with greying black hair. He had light green eyes and laughter lines around his baggy eyes. The man's name was Albert Curring. He had taken Cornelius Fudge's place as Minister after Fudge was kicked out of office. He stood up to reveal that he was about six feet tall. The Minister looked at them carefully.

"May I help you gentlemen with something?" he asked kindly but there was a hint of nervousness in his voice. His eyes strayed over to Greg and Brian who were quite intimidating because of their size. Harry smiled kindly at him.

"Don't worry, we intend no harm to you. We just have some information for you." His face relaxed and sat down.

"Please do take a seat. What is this bit of news?"

"Well, we have evidence of Death Eater movement again."

"Ah, yes. The aurors have been picking up on this the past couple months. Thats why I'm here now actually. We're trying to track down somebody who could be useful to us. He used to be an auror, and a very good one at that. So...what is this evidence of yours?"

"Greg, do you have the second letter?" Greg handed him the letter that Harry had just received as Harry pulled the first one out of his pocket.

"This one I received earlier this evening and this one came about twenty minutes ago." Curring took the first envelope and read the name.

"Ah! That's who you are! I knew you looked familiar. You've been all over the Daily Prophet." He opened the letter and read it. A look of confusion crossed his face. "I don't understand. They addressed the envelope to James Newark but the letter says Harry Potter."

"Oh yes well, you see I actually am Harry Potter. I'm just using the name James Newark so I could play Quidditch without worrying about the press asking so many questions about where I've been and if I really did kill Voldemort. I wasn't ready to answer all those questions."

"Wait a minute. You are Harry Potter?"

"Yes I am."

"Good gracious. Well you're the man we've been looking for to help sort out this Death Eater mess."

"W...what? I'm the one you're looking for?"

"Well yes of course. You were the best auror we had since Mad Eye Moody and he certainly can't help us now that he's stuck in St. Mungo's."

"But...but I don't know if I can do this again. It's....I would have to tell everybody who I am and I don't want to yet."

"Well then...nobody has to know its you. There are plenty of spells and potions that you can do that would be a pretty good disguise."

"Oh no. I didn't expect this. I'll have to think...wait no. I can't waste time thinking about it when I know my answer will be no."

"But why not Mr. Potter? I would have thought that you of all people would want to get rid of the Death Eaters once and for all."

"Yes I would like that and I am willing to capture some if they come across my path but I will not go out looking for them. It would be impossible with Quidditch. I'd have no time for sleep. It seems I will be dealing with Death Eaters whether I like it or not, so whatever information I receive, I will certainly pass it along to you and the aurors." The Minister sighed.

"Very well Mr Potter. It seems I cannot persuade you otherwise if I try." He opened the second letter and read. "So I see you are back in touch with the Weasley's. If you want, I can have Mr. Ron Weasley handle this directly. I'll have to give him the letters."

"No, please use someone else. He doesn't know who I really am. And I would appreciate if you could also keep it from your secretary, Ginny."

"Of course, nobody else will find out who you are besides for the auror handling the case."

"Thank you Minister. We must be going now. I'm truly sorry for not helping the Ministry out more than I can."

"It's all right. I'm glad that I have gotten the chance to speak with you again and now this search can be called off. I do hope you'll be in touch again."

"Of course, thank you for speaking with me so late. I'll be in touch." They shook hands and then the trio left the Ministry building and apparated back to the front of the hospital. A swarm of reporters enclosed around them.

"Mr. Newark, what brings you to the hospital?" Brian and Greg started pushing through the crowd with Harry in between the two.

"Get away you vultures." growled Brian. "This is a hospital. Show some respect."

"Is it true one of your friends just died giving birth?" one of the reporters yelled. Harry stopped dead and then sprinted ahead of his bodyguards, battling his way through the people.

"James! What do you think you're doing?" yelled Greg. Harry broke through and into the hospital doors. Not even waiting for the two other men. Once out of the elevator on the 9th floor, he sprinted down the hallway, robes billowing behind him to the waiting room the Weasley's were in. When he crashed through the door, everybody jumped out of their seats.

"Is Hermione OK?" he said through deep breaths.

"Yes, as far as we know. Ron hasn't been in here since just after you left. So we haven't heard anything." replied Mrs. Weasley who was visibly startled. Harry dropped down next to Ginny.

"Damned reporters. One of them asked me if it was true one of my friends died giving birth. Sorry about scaring you; but that reporter almost gave me a heart attack." Harry then noticed two more people in the room and gave a start.

"Oh James, these are Hermione's parents, Bradley and Janet. This is James Newark." Greg and Brian came running into the room.

"James! Why did you run away like that? Those vultures could have crushed you."

"Well they didn't and I had to make sure Hermione was OK. We weren't making any progress anyhow so I decided to run for it."

"It was still stupid. Especially in light of recent er-events." Harry glared at them both that made them both cower into seats by the door.

"Yes I know but like I saw before...I. Can. Handle. It. I have before and I will again. Now drop it, please."

"Yes sir." came their mumbled replies. Ginny laid a hand on his arm and leaned in close.

"What exactly can you handle James?"

"It's nothing. Really don't worry." Ron walked in the door and whispered something to his mother and Hermione's. They both got up and left. Ron walked over next to Harry and sat down with a great sigh. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes wearily.

"Is Hermione doing all right?" Ron snapped his head up and looked at James.

"Oh yes, she's actually doing better but they are going to do a C-section in about an hour. She just asked to see my mum and hers. I'm not much of a help; I don't really know what to do. Hopefully I'll be better next time we have a baby." Harry smiled and patted his shoulder.

"I'm sure you will be."

"I thought you left. You weren't here last time I came in."

"Oh I did for a bit. I had some business to attend to but its pretty much settled now." They fell silent for a good ten minutes and just stared at the wall while everyone else was nodding off. Angelina was curled up in Fred's arms, while George was lying on the floor. Charlie had Ginny lying on his shoulder while his head was on the wall behind him. Mr. Weasley and Dr. Granger both had their heads in their hands and were both snoring gently. Greg and Brian were leaning their heads on the wall fast asleep. _Some bodyguards._ Harry thought with a smile.

"What are you smiling about?" asked Ron.

"Oh I was just thinking about what good bodyguards I have. Asleep on the job." Ron laughed.

"Best kind to have I reckon." he sighed an exasperated sigh and muttered, "Damn it."

"Hey, what's wrong? You're baby is going to be born soon and you don't look very happy."

"I am happy. I would just be a whole hell of a lot happier if Harry were here. It would stop Hermione thinking that you are him and it would lift a big weight off my shoulders. I feel completely responsible for him leaving." Harry was starting to get really annoyed with Ron's feelings towards him leaving. The conversations were going in circles.

"I can't take it anymore Ron."

"What? I'm sorry. You asked me what was wrong so I told you." Harry laughed at him

"No, you misunderstood me. I need to talk to you."

"Uh, well talk then."

"Not right here. Let's go somewhere private." They walked out of the waiting room and looked around. Not seeing anything, Harry approached a nurse who had just come on duty.

"Excuse me, could we have a room to talk in for a few minutes. Somewhere private?"

"Sure that room across the hall is an empty waiting room."

"Thank you." They walked into the room and closed the door. Harry lit some lights and put a silencing charm on the room.

"What are you going to kill me or something?" Harry laughed.

"If that were the case, I wouldn't have bothered lighting the room. I think you've been an auror far too long." Ron grinned.

"Yeah probably. If I'm not careful I'll turn into Mad Eye Moody."

"We wouldn't want that happening." They fell into an awkward silence. Ron finally broke it.

"So....you wanted to talk to me about something."

"Er-right." He took a deep breath. "Ron, I don't know how you'll react to this. Just promise me you won't kill me if you're angry I didn't tell you right away."

"I promise. What could be so serious? You're starting to worry me."

"Well you see the thing is...I'm....and Hermione..."

"You want to spit it out any day now James?"

"Yeah, that's the thing. My name isn't James Newark." Ron furrowed his eyebrows.

"What? I'm...what is it then?"

"Harry Potter." he said in barely more than a whisper.

"Sorry what? I didn't catch that."

"HARRY POTTER!" he yelled. Ron's lips parted in shock and confusion before laughing. He carried on for quite some time. He was bent over clutching his stomach. After a few minutes he finally got his wits about him and stood up straight still slightly chuckling.

"OK, sure. I've had my doubts about you and I've thought you were him at times but there's absolutely no way you are. I mean you don't have a scar on your forehead, or glasses. Your eyes are blue." Harry sighed. This had been one of the reactions that he hadn't thought of. He moved forward and moved one of the contacts so that his green eye showed.

"Nothing contacts can't fix. As for my scar. It disappeared when I killed Voldemort."

"Bull shit. Why should I believe you?"

"Because I'm your best friend. You're mine. You need more proof? Ask me a question."

"What?"

"Ask me a question that only I would know."

"Er-what animal do I turn into."

"Fox."

"How did we get into the Slytherin Common room in second year?"

"Polyjuice potion. We turned into Crabbe and Goyle and locked them in a broom closet so they wouldn't walk in while we were trying to get out of Malfoy if he was the heir of Slytherin or not."

"Nah, Hermione could have told you all that."

"Then ask me something that _I_ would know or only you would know about me." Ron grimaced.

"OK, who did you lose your virginity to?" Harry smiled at the memory of Ron's reaction. He had always thought it gross for some reason.

"The one and only Parvati Patil." Ron shuddered.

"You know, I heard she was a prostitute now." Harry laughed.

"Yeah right."

"Yeah I know. I was lying. But the way she dresses! She might as well be one." 

"So...you believe me yet?"

"I don't know..."

"Oh for...Ron you know perfectly well I only told you about having sex with Parvati. Hermione would have scolded me until my ear fell off. That's why I didn't tell her anything about my little sexual adventures afterwards because as you know there were quite a few after Parvati." He let out an exasperated sigh at the look of uncertainty still plastered on his friends face.

"OK, let me think. I got it!" He conjured some thick black rimmed circular glasses out of mid-air, turned around and took out his contacts and stuck the glasses on. He then waved his hand over his head and made his hair grow out all over the place; the way he always had it before he left. He turned back around to Ron who's mouth dropped.

"Ring any bells now?"

"Harry." he whispered.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you, you great prat." Ron crossed the space between them and embraced him in a brotherly hug.

"God Harry, I've been so worried all these years. I'm so sorry for blaming you for Percy's death. I was so stupid. I should have known that the mark was forced onto you." They pulled away and Harry saw that Ron was crying. He had never seen his friend full out crying like he was at that moment. Tears welled up in Harry's eyes and before he could stop them, they were rolling down his cheeks.

"Ron, I understand about you blaming me for his death. You don't need to apologise. I don't need to hear it."

"Why....why did you leave?"

"Well, for one I was a coward. It was just too much to handle. After I killed Voldemort, I went to talk to Dumbledore to have him tell everybody that I was leaving and not to worry. But he died just after I told him. I didn't even find out he was dead until Sirius found me a couple months ago. Its my fault he's dead."

"Harry, it wasn't your fault. I was there when it happened. It couldn't be helped. Don't blame yourself for everybody's death."

"You were there? What happened?"

"Let's not talk about this now. I'm still trying to take in the fact that you're here." he laughed while wiping tears away. "I have my right arm back now." Harry smiled and embraced him in another hug. They both started crying again.

"I've got mine back too." he whispered. They pulled away from each other and Harry threw the glasses aside. "Horrid things. They're so heavy." He wiped his eyes. "I wish I could come out there as Harry."

"Do it. Mum would be overjoyed to know who you are."

"I can't, I'm James Newark still." he thought for a moment. "I think I've got a plan though." he fixed his hair short again and put his contacts in. "Just follow my lead." They walked out of the room and walked to their waiting room. Harry poked Greg and Brian awake.

"We're leaving now." he then went to Ginny and woke her up by placing kisses all over her face. "Ginny, I have to go. I have practice in the morning you know."

"But I thought..."

"Yeah I know but I need to get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." They kissed good bye and Harry left the room followed by Ron, Greg and Brian. "Ron, no need to tell Hermione I left. Just tell her I'll be back soon and tell her you know about me. Don't tell anyone else. I'll see you in a bit." Harry and his bodyguards left the building and apparated to Harry's house.

Once inside, Harry hurried to his room. He pulled on some bottle green robes then went to the bathroom to take his contacts out and put on his black wire rim glasses. He then made his hair grow out again.

"I need the scar. Brian! Greg! Come to the bathroom a moment." A minute later they appeared in the door. "Do you have any ideas how I should put my scar on? You've seen old pictures when I still had it." Brian shrugged his shoulders but Greg stepped forward.

"Hold still." He pushed back Harry's hair and pointed his wand, made a zigzagging motion and then mumbled a few words Harry couldn't make out. "There. Your scar is back. Take a look in the mirror, does it look right?" Harry looked and saw that it looked quite accurate.

"Yeah, looks good. Well as good as a horrible scar can look. You will be able to get if off won't you?"

"Of course. I'll teach you how to do it later."

"OK, good. You two can go to bed now. I'll be back later. I don't actually have practice so don't worry about me."

"I really think this is a bad idea."

"I know, but I need to do it. I want the Weasley's to stop worrying about me. I'll be back." With that he apparated to the hospital. A couple reporters turned and gasped as they recognised him. Before anyone could react, he had run into the building. Up on the 9th floor he asked the nurse where the Weasley's were just so that he wouldn't seem suspicious. She directed him to the waiting room.

"Could you tell Ron Weasley to come into the waiting room? I need to see him."

"All right." Harry turned and walked nervously to the waiting room. How would everyone react? Would they even be awake? He opened the door quietly to see that everyone was asleep. He sank into a chair next to the door and waited for Ron. Five minutes later the door opened and Ron walked in.

"Act surprised." Harry whispered.

"Everyone's asleep though." he whispered back."

"Who cares." Harry stood up and turned his back to the rest of the Weasley's to face Ron. Ron did the same mouth drop that he had done half an hour earlier.

"Harry?" he asked quietly and then muttered so only Harry could hear, "Ginny's up."

"Ron, I'm sorry I haven't gotten in touch with you sooner." Ron shook his head.

"I don't care now. You're here now." They smiled at each other before hugging again. When they pulled away a minute later, they were both crying again. The two laughed at each other.

"We are a couple of women aren't we?" asked Ron jokingly.

"Certainly seems so."

"Let's go and see Hermione. She'll be really happy to see you. She's going to be having a C-section in about 15 minutes."

"OK, let me hang my cloak up first." He turned around to hang up his cloak and heard a small gasp from the other side of the room. Harry looked up and saw Ginny staring wide eyed and open mouthed at him.

"Ginny."

"Harry." She jumped up and threw her arms around him. "I can't believe you're here! I never thought I'd see you again! I've missed you so much it hurts."

"I've missed you too Gin." She pulled back and smiled.

"I love it when you call me that. You and my boyfriend are the only ones who can get away with it." Harry smiled and almost kissed her but then quickly pulled away from her. Luckily Ron broke in to cover the awkwardness that had descended over the two.

"Harry, we need to go now if you want to see Hermione before the C-section."

"OK, I'll talk to you later Gin." he kissed her on the cheek and left with Ron. Once outside the room, Ron turned to Harry and smiled at him.

"She's really gotten to you hasn't she?"

"More than you know....I just hope that she won't be too angry when I tell her the truth about me."

"I'm sure she'll be shocked but if she feels the same way, she'll get over it. I personally have never seen her look at anybody the way she looks at you, James. Well, actually she used to look at you, Harry that way in school. I'm confusing myself. You know what I mean don't you?" Harry laughed and slapped him on the back.

"Yeah Ron, I get it."

"So in other words, she's never felt that way about anybody else but you. She just doesn't know it yet." Ron opened the door to Hermione's room while Harry waited outside.

"You've got another visitor honey."

"Ron, I don't think she should have any more people in here." came Mrs. Weasley's stern voice.

"I don't mind Molly, really. Ron let him in." Harry walked in to see Mrs. Weasley mopping up Hermione's head and Hermione's mother holding her hand. Hermione's face broke out into a huge grin.

"Harry!" she laughed, "You're the last person I expected. I'm so glad you're here." Mrs. Weasley had stood up and was fanning herself and taking deep calming breaths while tears rolled down her face. Harry smiled at Hermione. He knew she was expecting him but just putting on an act.

"Me too. I had to come once I found out you were in labour." She held out her arms and Harry sat down on the bed and hugged her. They started crying once again.

"I've missed you." they said in unison. They pulled away and Hermione kissed both his cheeks and then whispered so only he could hear.

"You even have your scar on again. You're amazing Harry Potter."

"Not as amazing as you 'Mione." The doctor came in.

"It's time. We'll be taking you to surgery now." Harry kissed her forehead.

"See you when you wake up beautiful."

"Not if I see you first handsome." They smiled and Harry got up so Ron could kiss her.

"Don't worry Ron. I'll be fine. I have my two best friends waiting for me and a baby." Ron followed the bed to the doors and watched his wife being taken away. Harry stayed rooted to the spot, tears rolling down his face. He felt eyes on him and turned to see Mrs. Weasley smiling at him, also with tears on her face. He smiled warmly at her.

"Mrs. Weasley." Before he knew what was happening, she had him in a hug.

"Oh Harry, don't you ever try to pull that disappearing act ever again. Arthur and I have been worried sick. I'm so glad you're OK. You look so much healthier than when you left. Probably that job you had as an auror. Well, whatever you've been doing these past years. It's done you good."

"Come on mum, Janet, Harry, lets go to the waiting room." They followed Ron and walked into the room.

"Harry, come sit by me." Ginny said patting the seat next to her. He complied and Ron sat next to Harry.

"So, Gin. How have you been? What kind of work are you into now?" For the next quarter of an hour the two were deeply immersed in conversation on Ginny's life, work, home, James. Ron finally broke in.

"OK, Ginny my turn. He was my friend before he was yours. If I remember correctly, you were too scared to even speak to him until mid way through your fourth year."

"Oh shut it Ron." Ginny said angrily while her ears turned red. Harry smiled at her and squeezed her hand gently before turning to Ron.

"Getting a bit possessive over me?" he asked with a grin.

"Yes, I've only had ten minutes with you since you showed up."

"Now now Ronniekins. There's enough of Harry to go around." Harry laughed as he messed his friends hair. Ron scowled.

"Shut up Harry. And don't call me Ronniekins. You know I hate that."

"Oh is ickle Ronniekins getting angry?" He loved getting a rise out of Ron. His face would turn red and his eyes would bulge out of his head. Ron let out a grunt of exasperation. Keeping his voice in a tone as if he were speaking to a small child Harry continued teasing him. "Does Ronniekins want me to stop teasing him?" Before he knew what was happening, Ron had tackled him to the floor. They began wrestling. Harry laughing loudly the entire time. Between efforts to pin Harry's shoulders Ron gasped,

"When...did you...become such...an insufferable...git?" Harry flipped Ron onto his back and replied while trying to pin him.

"I don't....know. You know.....you....missed....ME." With the last word he pinned Ron's shoulders and sat on his chest. "Have you always been this weak or is this a new development?"

"I'm not weak, you've just become freakishly strong and heavy. Get off me before you crush me."

"OOPS. Sorry mate." He jumped up and held out his hand to help Ron up. They turned to sit down again but found that everybody had woken up and was staring open mouthed at Harry. Ginny, Mrs. Weasley and Hermione's mother were laughing at the little show the two friends had just put on. Harry smiled jovially.

"Hello. Sorry to wake you. Ron here got a little carried away with his temper there." Mr. Weasley got up and gave Harry a fatherly hug.

"We've been worried sick about you Harry. I'm so glad you're here for Ron and Hermione now. Did they tell you that they're naming their son after you?" Harry decided to feign surprise. It wasn't hard since tears always threatened to come when he thought about it.

"No, they didn't tell me." Right on cue, a tear ran down his face. He turned to face Ron. "I...I really haven't a clue what to say. Thank you." Ron smiled.

"No problem mate. It just seemed right to name him that." The next twenty minutes were spent speaking with the other Weasley's. Ron paced about the room the entire time mumbling under his breath about Hermione. Finally a doctor walked in with a broad smile on his face.

"Ron? If you'll come with me, you have a new son waiting for you." His face was crossed with the most intense look of happiness Harry had ever seen on it. After a few seconds, Ron managed to speak.

"And Hermione?"

"She's doing wonderfully. She'll wake up in about ten minutes." He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Can I take Harry with me?"

"Of course." Ron turned to Harry.

"Coming?"

"Are you sure? I can always come in later."

"No you'll come in now. I want to share this with you." Ron said so firmly that Harry found no other option. He didn't mind but he thought that Ron would have wanted to be alone with his new family for a few minutes. The pair followed the doctor along two long hallways before coming to the room where Hermione lay sleeping and little Harry was being held by a nurse. The nurse turned as she heard them enter. She crossed to Ron and placed a bundle of blankets in his arms. The doctor and nurse left and closed the door behind them.

Harry watched as Ron looked adoringly into the blankets. A tear dripped down his face and he began speaking softly to the little baby.

"Hey, I'm your daddy. As long as I'm around, nothing will ever happen to you." A small hand popped out of the blankets and wrapped around Ron's offered finger. A small laugh escaped Ron's lips and he bent down and kissed his son on the forehead. He rocked him a bit more before handing the bundle over to Harry. 

He finally got his first look at his friend's baby. He had a tuft of light red hair with hints of brown. His eyes were blue like Ron's but he figured they might change since most baby's eyes were blue. Harry could see a definite resemblance to Ron. Harry smiled down at Harry JR. and then looked at Ron.

"He's beautiful." Ron smiled back at Harry and nearly jumped out of his skin as a small voice met their ears.

"Can I see how beautiful my baby is?" Harry walked to Hermione and laid the baby in her arms and adjusted the bed so she was in a sitting position. Hermione's tears ran freely down her face as she looked at her son for the first time.

Thirty minutes later, Ron and Harry were seated on either side of Hermione. Harry was starting to feel uncomfortable being there.

"Er-I'll just be heading back to the waiting room."

"No Harry! We want you here!" exclaimed Hermione.

"No 'Mione. You two do need to be alone with your son for a bit. I'll see you later." Hermione's voice became strangled as she began to speak again.

"Harry. How come I get the feeling that if you walk out right now that I won't see you for a long time again?"

"'Mione, you know I'm not going anywhere. I live here again, I have a job, I'm not about to leave again. I am just going to the waiting room. I'll come back in here in a little while. All right?"

"Fine, but you better be here in a while."

"I promise." He bent down and kissed her on the forehead. He put a hand on Ron's shoulder and left the room. As he was walking to the front, he saw the elevator opening. His face immediately dropped and he turned to the nurse.

"Honestly, does this hospital have any security at all?"

"Um, yes. But they aren't doing a very good job tonight are they?"

"I would say not." Flashes started going off in his face.

"Mr. Potter! Mr. Potter! Where have you been all these years? Is it true you killed You Know Who?" Harry waved them all off with his hand.

"I have no comment right now." He wearily pushed his way through the crowd. When he got through, he started at a run, fully aware of the reporters running along behind him. He flew into the waiting room; once again startling the people inside. Leaning against the closed door he wiped his sweaty brow.

"I've been spotted. And they tipped the press. Damned reporters. They're like vultures. I swear this hospital has no security! How in the world do they manage to function with the press in and out of here so often? It's completely ridiculous." Ginny looked at him suspiciously.

"Deja vu." she said simply.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, it's just that the same thing happened earlier tonight with James. He said the same thing you just did."

"Oh, its true all the same. I hate being in the media. What did I expect though when I came here again?" Harry sat in his spot next to Ginny and they began berating him with questions about the baby. After a while, all fell silent again. Harry stared through the blinds and caught glimpses of reporters trying to see in. To his left he felt eyes staring him down. Turning, he saw Ginny looking at him funny.

"What?"

"Nothing its just that...you and James are so much alike. Looks, personality. It's almost like you are brothers or twins."

"Oh well there are people who say that everybody has a twin out there. I guess you found mine." He smiled devilishly at her. "Couldn't stand being away from me for so long so you went and found yourself a duplicate did ya?" She punched him playfully. "It's all right Gin. I wish I would have been as lucky as you and found your duplicate." They smiled shyly at each other while Ginny turned a deep red colour. Harry finally looked down when Ginny looked down and started twirling her hair around her finger. Neither one noticed the sad smiles that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley exchanged.

They both thought highly of their only daughter and felt only one man was fit for her. And that man was Harry Potter. They had always expected them to get together. Not that they hadn't taken a liking to James Newark; no man could replace Harry. There was a knock at the door and a nurse squeezed in.

"Sorry to interrupt. This came a minute ago for Harry Potter." She handed him a letter written in red ink. His heart dropped but he smiled at the nurse and thanked her. She smiled shyly and went to fight the sea of reporters outside. He opened the letter hastily and took in the same stationery as before.

_Dear Harry Potter,_

Very clever move, coming out as yourself. People will stop suspecting James for being you Harry. Why don't you have a little chat with the reporters outside that door?

He folded up the letter completely baffled. What kind of threat was that? There was something fishy going on. His confusion must have showed on his face.

"Is there something wrong Harry?" asked George.

"No, everything's fine. Just a bit unclear about a few things. It was just a letter from Sirius. I'll just talk to him later about it."

"Oh has Sirius known where you've been all this time?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"No, but he's the one who found me a couple months ago."

"And you haven't come out until now?" Ginny asked baffled.

"Pretty much. He's been telling me everything that's been going on. He somehow heard that Hermione went into labour tonight so he called me and told me to make up my mind."

"So, where exactly did he find you? You still haven't told us where you've been all this time." said Charlie.

"Oh, I have been in New York. I've been living in Manhattan. There's a little wizarding part of it that I've been going to and lived." It wasn't a complete lie. When he had first left England, he had gone to New York right away and did live in Manhattan. "They had to rebuild the wizarding part though after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre. Some shops were in there and were completely destroyed." (A/N: I'm going by the assumption that Harry graduated from Hogwarts in 1998 and so the current year in this story would be 2003.) 

"Oh were you there?" In fact he had been there with Steve. They had been on vacation together and were just a few blocks down the road when the first plane hit.

"Yeah. I was there. Just a few blocks away when it happened. I've seen a lot of horrible things and I'll tell you that that is near the top of the list as the worst. Probably third on my list." Harry shuddered. Ginny tentatively took his hand.

"You don't have to answer, but what are the worst things?"

Harry swallowed loudly. "Er-I fell into a Pensieve once. The first memory was of the night my parents died. I saw Voldemort kill my dad and then my mum. And when he tried to kill me. It was...the most sickening thing I ever saw. They..." his voice started to go down to a whisper.

"Who's pensieve was it?"

"Lucius Malfoy's. He was with Voldemort the entire time."

"What is the other thing?"

"When I....when I killed Voldemort. I didn't know that....I didn't know I was capable of such hatred to do that to a person. Even though that's not what he really was. It was like I wasn't really me anymore. Like someone else took over my body and controlled what I did..." he took a deep shuddering breath. Why was he talking like this? He didn't want to talk about it. He didn't realise he was crying until Mrs. Weasley had him wrapped up in her arms.

"Harry, I knew you would be having trouble dealing with all this. I wish I could have been there for you. Well, I can be now. You always know where to find me dear. You know I have always considered you like another son. Don't hesitate to come to me."

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley." he mumbled into her shoulder.

"Call me Molly and call Arthur by his first name. You're not a child anymore."

"OK." She pulled away from him and smoothed his hair away from his face. Harry sat back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. Everybody was silent for a long while and some were starting to fall back to sleep. They were jerked awake however by the reporters outside the door starting to make a lot of noise. Harry sighed and got up to tell them off.

"This is a maternity ward. I suggest you keep it down for the babies and new mothers. Nurse, could you call..." he never got his words out because directly in front of him a blinding flash went before his eyes and he felt a cool mist being squirted onto his face. The smell of the mist was intoxicating. It suffocated him, making him dizzy. From far away he heard somebody calling out his name. He felt himself falling to the floor before everything went black.

A/N: How's that for a cliff-hanger? I sure am being mean to you. The last couple chapters have had cliff-hangers. So please please review!!! I would really appreciate it. I can't believe that I've gotten so many good reviews already. It makes me so happy! *Wipes tear from face* :) Just kidding. Oh and somebody asked who the letters were from. Sorry if that wasn't clear to everybody. But they are from Death Eaters who have gotten out of going to Azkaban. **Next Chapter:**You'll find out what the heck is going on with Harry. Hmmm. Should I say anything else? I don't think so. It would give away too much. OK, just so everyone knows; this is a WIP (Work In Progress) I only have about 6 and a half chapters written. So Chapter six will most likely be out by tomorrow. While I'm not sure on Chapter 7 because I have gotten the dreaded writers block! I know what's going to happen in the story but it's just getting there that's the problem!! So I think I've said enough. **Please Review!**


	6. Chapter Six

A/N: I forgot to add the disclaimer in the last chapter!! I don't think it matters but still. Nothing is mine except for Steve Legare. Please don't sue me!

**Chapter Six**

Ron kissed his sleeping wife on the forehead and picked up his son who was also sleeping and put him in a cradle. The nurses would be by to pick him up in a bit. Closing the door softly behind him, he made his way back to the waiting room. When he got near the elevator, he saw a large group of security guards coming out of the waiting room his family was in. His interest and worry piqued, he picked up his pace, still not able to wipe the smile off his face that had been plastered on his face since he found out that James Newark was actually his best friend, Harry Potter.

When he opened the door and saw what was inside, his smile was finally wiped from his face. Ginny sat crying in Charlie's arms, his mum had her face buried in her hands and she too was crying. His father was staring at a wall while absentmindedly rubbing his wife's back. His in-laws looked lost, like they didn't know what to think. Fred and George looked uncharacteristically serious and sombre. Angelina just the same. Everybody looked up as Ron walked in.

"What...what's going on?" On closer inspection, he noticed someone was missing. "Where's Harry?" Nobody seemed able to answer. "Where's Harry?" he asked again except he almost yelled it. George answered after a pause,

"Ron, we don't know."

"What, so he's left us again?" He was letting his anger take over him. _He promised Hermione that he was just coming to the waiting room. He lied to her face. He lied to me._ His face was turning red and his eyes were bulging out of his head.

"Calm down. He hasn't left us voluntarily, Ron."

"George, what are you on about?"

George let his anger and frustration out on him then.

"Stop being so thick! He's been taken! Kidnapped. We don't know where he is or who took him."

"Nice joke George. Harry doesn't get kidnapped. Harry leaves on his own accord and frankly I'm getting sick of it."

"Stop! Ron, we saw it happen. He. Was. Kidnapped." Ron looked all around and after a few moments believed it. A sadness swept over him. He lost his best friend again. The sadness was quickly replaced by anger and resentment towards his family.

"You saw it happen and you didn't do anything to stop it?" Mr. Weasley got up and took his son firmly by the shoulders.

"There was nothing we could do. It all happened so fast. For Harry's sake, you have got to calm down. Getting angry won't help anybody get back home." Ron sank into a chair by the door.

"What happened?" he asked wearily.

"He got up to quiet the press down that was outside the door and was just yelling to the nurse probably to get security, but he never finished because a flash went off in his face. Ginny says she saw some sort of mist come out of the camera. The next second, Harry started to collapse but before he hit the floor, someone, who we can only assume had an invisibility cloak or an invisibility charm on him or her, grabbed Harry and took off down the stairs. I chased Harry's floating body down the stairs but the person either apparated with him or put an invisibility charm on him because he disappeared." Ron ran a hand through his hair.

"Just when he comes back. How did the person even know where he was? This is going to take forever to get him back."

"Ron, I'm sure you're forgetting that Harry is a very powerful wizard. He'll come out of where ever he is before we even get the chance to start looking."

"So what, dad. You're suggesting that I don't even look for him? That's something I can't even consider. I'm not going to lose my best friend again."

"I never said that, I just said that it won't take long to get him back. You'll have a lot of help, aurors, Sirius, Remus, me. And I'm sure that there will be even more than that."

"Yeah the whole Chudley Cannons team I'm sure." Ron muttered under his breath.

"What was that Ron?"

"Oh nothing."

~*~*~*~

Harry slowly regained consciousness and turned his head to the side. He groaned loudly in pain. It felt like someone hit him over the head with a hammer a couple hundred times. Harry racked his brain to try to remember why he was in so much pain. Then he remembered the bright flash and the mist. Someone yelling his name...what happened after that?

He opened his eyes and saw sunlight filtering through a window to his left. The room was still altogether dark but from what he could see, the room was empty except for the cot that he was lying on and a little bedside table. He could just make out the outline of his glasses. Putting them on, everything came into focus.

"See if Potter is up yet and if he is; give him this. If he gives you any lip, don't hesitate to remind him of who's in charge here." A harsh voice came from just outside the door followed by another deep one.

"Yes sir." The door opened a minute later and a cloaked figure came in. Harry couldn't see the man's face because it was hooded and when the faint sunlight hit him, he had a mask on underneath.

"Where am I?" Harry asked.

"Here's your food." Harry looked and saw a piece of bread, cheese and a glass of water.

"Oh well thanks for making sure I get enough."

"You're lucky you're getting anything at all Potter."

"Why don't you bastards spare both of us the time and kill me right now? You wouldn't have to give up this comfy little cot or all this food."

"I'd be only to happy to kill you but unfortunately I have to settle with torturing you. Although, it should be quite fun. Crucio!" Harry's screams reverberated off the walls as his body twitched with pain. The curse was finally lifted off of him.

"Maybe that'll teach you to hold your tongue. Don't forget, you're the one without the wand." The man walked out of the room with a sharp snap of the door. _No wand_ was the only though going through his mind. His mind was hazy from the after effects of the Cruciatus curse. After a good quarter of an hour his mind cleared and he was able to think clearly. _I don't need a wand. They don't know that._ He shot up to a sitting position making his head spin. With great effort, he took away his headache and the rest of the pain with a wave of his hand His stomach gave a great jolt of hunger. Looking down at the ground, he saw the plate with its meagre contents and the glass of water. He transfigured the food into a shepherds pie and turned the water into pumpkin juice. He conjured and fork and began eating happily. Whoever knew you could feel so good while being kept prisoner?

After eating, he banished the fork and lay down on his bed and tried to work out a plan. He still had his powers but who knows what lay behind that door. While pondering this, he reached up and scratched his head and something fell down his wrist. After pulling up his sleeve, he found his watch. _Not being very thorough are they? They didn't waste any time last time they captured me to take anything useful off. Must be lost without Voldemort._ He chuckled softly at the thought. The watch could come in a little handy. It was just a Muggle watch that had the day, date and time on it. Although Harry wasn't exactly sure how he felt about this. He'd either be counting down to his death or his escape. Hopefully the latter.

The watch currently said that it was Sunday the 10th. Seven PM. He'd been unconscious for two nights now. At least he thought so. He was pretty sure that Hermione had gone into labour on the 8th but it was blending together. He could have been gone a month already and not known it. His thoughts were broken by another hooded figure coming in through the door. Without preamble he bellowed, "Crucio!"

~*~*~*~

"You've got to be kidding me James!" yelled Ginny exasperated. It had been a week since Harry's second disappearance. Ginny was on her 10th check of her boyfriends house since Harry disappeared. But he hadn't shown up. She asked the Cannons and they said that he had some family matters in America. _Nice way to break up with someone._ she had thought at the time. She somehow thought the Cannons were just covering up for him. Why would they want to cover up his ass when he wants to break up with his girlfriend? It made no sense at all. She had spotted his bodyguards the day before and followed them until she was sure James wasn't with them. Thoroughly exasperated and worried, Ginny decided to go and talk with Hermione.

~*~*~*~

Hermione laid her sleeping baby in the crib and went to the kitchen to read the Evening Prophet. Every day since Harry's disappearance, there had been an article on him. His mysterious disappearance five years ago. His re-entry into the wizarding world without anyone knowing, His kidnapping. They were even desperate enough to do life stories on Hermione, Ron and Sirius.

Tonight was a short article on James Newark.

**_Where is James Newark?_**

It was brought to my attention a couple hours after Harry Potter's disappearance that James Newark was also gone. Is it in fact, as the spokesperson for the Chudley Cannons say, just a family matter in America that he is attending to?

I hardly think so.

Standing outside St. Mungo's late Friday night, waiting to get a few words with the talented Quidditch player; he came running outside flanked by his bodyguards. They quickly disapparated. Twenty minutes later, Harry Potter apparated to the hospital and ran inside.

The two men do have a striking resemblance. I suspect that they are related some how and James is out looking for The Boy Who Lived. These two men are connected but only time will tell.

"Connected more than you know."

"What's that Hermione?" Hermione jumped.

'Oh Ginny! You gave me a fright! Nothing just talking to myself how ridiculous this new article is."

"Oh yeah, I read that earlier before I went to James's house again. You know it's bad enough to lose Harry again but now to lose James. You would think he'd get in touch with me if it really was just a family problem. I'm getting really worried."

"I'm sure James is fine. Just...just wait it out. I'm sure he's got a logical explanation." Hermione had gotten up from the kitchen table and went and stood in front of the kitchen window.

"Do you want tea or coffee?"

"Tea would be good I suppose. Is Ron still out looking for Harry?"

"Yeah, he's been gone since three this morning."

"Great wizards! It's almost ten!"

"I know. He's going to be overworked, overtired and crabby when he comes home. I'm hoping I'll be asleep before that."

"What possessed him to leave that early?"

"Well, we were woken up by Harry Jr. and he couldn't fall asleep again so he just left; said he'd be back tonight." She poured two cups of tea and handed one to Ginny.

Feeling restless she walked back over to the window.

"I'm getting really worried about him. He didn't take Harry's first disappearance good at all and he's not taking this one any better. Worse in fact. Its...getting really hard to put on a strong face for him. Who's to say we'll even find Harry this time? He's probably dead already; if you think about it. The last time he was kidnapped, it was for only two days and when he was found, it took him a good month to recover. He would have died if they wouldn't have found him when they did." she fell silent.

"You're jumping to the worst possible conclusions. I'd say you're not doing any better than Ron here. This is the same reaction you have every time he disappears." she stopped talking abruptly when a thought hit her. "Hermione, what if they did know each other? I mean it makes sense. Harry told us that he lived in New York City near the World Trade Centre where there are some wizarding shops and homes. And James told me that he grew up in New York City near the WTC. The timing is perfect, granted James did move to Los Angeles but they could have met and become good friends or something."

"Oh Ginny, don't be silly. Of course they didn't know each other. You told him about James didn't you?"

"Yes."

"And Harry didn't say anything about knowing James, did he? No. I thought not. If he did, he would have said something."

"I suppose you're probably right." They fell silent and Hermione turned her gaze from Ginny back out the window. Orange light from the street from the other side of the house filtered lightly into the tree filled back yard. Two figures appeared by a large tree and one started staggering towards the house. The second person immediately disapparated while the other person kept falling and struggled to his/her feet again.

"Who in the world? That better not be Ron drunk. Ginny, come look quick. Someone just apparated into our apparition area."

"Is it Ron?" Ginny asked, getting up.

"I don't know, there's not much light out there and plus there's too much light in here to see out properly. Whoever he is, he's planning on coming into the house. I really don't think its Ron. Wand out hon'. Better follow me." They walked quietly to the back door. They both jumped when they heard a thump on the door. Wand raised, Hermione turned the handle and pulled the door open. She jumped back and screamed as a body rolled down by her feet. Ginny started taking deep calming breaths.

"Hermione...who...who is that? He isn't dead is he?"

"I don't know, oh I wish Ron were here." Hermione replied clutching her chest. She knelt down next to the person who had rolled onto his stomach when Hermione had opened the door. She checked for a pulse. "Shit, he's alive." Very gingerly she rolled him over and took in a bloody face that wasn't even distinguishable.

"Mobilicorpus." Hermione muttered. The body was held up as if by invisible strings. "Ginny, go get some towels and my medi-potion kit. Whoever this is, needs some medical attention. I'll take him up to a guest room" Ginny rushed to the bathroom while Hermione guided the unconscious body to the second floor guest room. 

After laying him on the bed, she lit some lamps and a fire in the small fireplace so that there was a warm glow to the small room. A minute later, Ginny ran into the room carrying a load of old towels and a large black kit floating behind her.

"Can you put warm water on a couple of those?" Hermione took a bundle of five towels from her and sat on the bed next to the man. She wiped the blood off his face. But there was still dried blood that needed to be washed off. The man's eyes were swollen and Hermione couldn't see how he could have even seen when he was conscious. His bottom lip was cracked open and bleeding. It was also swollen. Ginny handed her a warm wet towel and Hermione washed off the dried blood. His skin was slowly becoming normal colour, save the bruises all over his face.

"We've got to get his robes off. They're filthy and I have to see if he's got any injuries other than his face. Hold him up and I'll take them off." Ginny muttered, 'mobilicorpus' and Hermione gingerly took off his clothing leaving him with his boxers. His chest was covered in bruises and his ribs were in an unusual shape. She muttered a few spells to heal the ribs as best she could until he was able to take a potion for them.

"Hermione!" Ron's voice called from downstairs.

"Ginny, go tell him to be quiet. Harry's asleep and I don't need him waking up right now." Ginny left the room. Hermione turned back to the man and fixed his bleeding swollen lip and then made the swelling go down in his eyes. She gasped loudly and jumped up. She ran out of the room and crashed into Ron.

"Ron! I....Harry."

"I know, I'm sorry. I won't yell anymore."

"No! Harry! I found Harry!"

"What? Where?" Hermione grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room she had just run from. He sighed in relief.

"I don't understand. You found him like that? He's naked."

"He's not, he's got boxers on. And no, you prat. He came here and I didn't recognise him until I fixed his eyes. They were swollen shut."

"Doesn't he have that fake scar on though? He did that night he was taken."

"No, it's gone. We should put it back on so Ginny doesn't see he doesn't have one. She can't know he's James. Harry wanted to tell her himself. Do you know how to put it on?"

"Yeah, his bodyguard Greg told me how to the other day. I'll do it now."

"No, don't bother." Ron and Hermione turned around and saw Ginny standing in the doorway with tears running down her face.

"Oh Ginny. I'm so sorry you had to find out like this."

"When was he planning on telling me?" she asked, her voice noticeably shaking.

"I don't know. He wasn't even planning on telling us. I figured it out and then Ron unknowingly made him feel bad so he told him who he really was." Ginny walked over to Harry and sat next to him and held his hand. Tears fell down onto his bruised chest.

"Then I've been falling in love with Harry all over again this whole time." She let out a dry laugh. "I'm not meant to love anyone else. Even if the feelings are never returned."

"Ginny." Ron started in a gentle voice. "He has been returning those feelings. He told me last Friday that he was falling love with you."

"He said that?" she asked in a strangled voice.

"Yes, and he was so worried that you wouldn't forgive him for not telling you the truth about who he is."

"How could I not forgive him. I couldn't stay mad at him. Not since I've been in love with him since I was ten years old....will he be all right Hermione?"

"As far as I can tell by just looking at him. He'll be fine, I'm sure. I'll just take away his bruises now." She waved her wand over his numerous bruises and then looked at Ron and motioned with her eyes that they should leave.

"But..." Ron protested.

"Oh Ron. He's unconscious. What good will it do you to be in here? You'll see him when he wakes up." They closed the door behind them as Ginny extinguished the lamps. She pulled the blankets over them and laid in the space between his arm and chest. She laid her head on his bare chest and draped her arm over it. The flickering light from the fire danced across his handsome face. Ginny stretched up and lightly kissed his slightly parted lips. Laying back down, she closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep.

~*~*~*~

Harry woke up to pale sunshine coming through a window. There were light yellow curtains hanging over the window making the room brighter than it would have been without them. His mind became confused. He had no idea where he was or how he'd gotten there. He heard and felt someone sigh next to him. That's when he noticed the warmth on his left side and the slight weight on his chest.

Looking down, he tried to discern who the person was. Everything was blurry but he could make out red hair laying all over him. _Ginny?_ He reached down to see if he had something on and found boxer shorts. _She's dressed. We didn't have sex. What the hell is going on?_ He slid out from under her and sat up. What he decided were probably his robes, he picked them up and rummaged through his pockets and found what he was looking for. He set his glasses on his face and found them cracked. With a quick wave of his hand they were back to normal.

The girl was indeed Ginny but how he'd gotten there, he had no idea. The last thing in his memory was the man in the hooded cloak putting him under the Cruciatus Curse. _It was Sunday on that day. And its....Saturday the 16th?_ "Great wizards." Harry got up from the bed and walked to the door holding his ribs. He tried racking his brain to try to remember why they hurt so bad but nothing came to him. He stuck his head cautiously out the door and looked both ways. It seemed to be safe. It was only 6:30 AM so nobody would be up.

Where ever he was.

Soft sunlight was filling the hallway as Harry stepped out. He realised that he really needed to use the bathroom. There were only five doors in the hallway he was in. Two of which were closed and one he had just come out of. The first room he tried was luckily the bathroom. He closed and locked the door quietly behind himself.

While washing his hands, he caught his reflection. There was dried blood in his hair and on his face and on his neck a bit. He decided to take a shower. If Ginny was here then he had to be safe. Five minutes later hot water was pounding on his face and hair. Blood swirled down the drain as he scrubbed his head fiercely with shampoo. After he towelled himself off, he stepped back into his boxer shorts and walked back into the room with Ginny.

Ginny slept peacefully with a smile on her face. He pulled a chair next to the bed and held her hand. Sleep started to come again so he climbed into bed and wrapped his arms around her and fell asleep.

~*~*~*~

Ginny woke to find herself completely wrapped in Harry's arms. She inhaled deeply and took in his fresh scent. She rolled over in his arms so she could face him and kissed his chest, sending a shiver through his body while he slept. She reached up and ran a hand through his thick damp hair. Quite unexpectedly, she was flipped onto her back and she was staring into Harry's grinning face.

"You just took a couple years off my life with that move." she tried to stay serious but couldn't help but smile back at him. He ran a delicate finger down the side of her cheek before closing the gap and kissing her softly. He deepened the kiss and then kissed his way to her earlobe and nibbled on it.

"Oh Harry." Harry shot up and stared at her wide eyed.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"You...you know I'm Harry?"

"Well, of course. Who else would you be?"

"But then why are you kissing me? Don't you have a boyfriend?"

"Harry, drop the act. I know you're really James. I overheard Ron and Hermione talking about it last night."

"And....you're not angry with me for not telling you?"

"I tried to be at first. But I just couldn't I can't stay mad at you. And plus I should have guessed. I did have a feeling about you but I just ignored it." Harry smiled.

"You're wonderful, Virginia Weasley."

"I know." she replied smugly.

"I'm really sorry for not telling you."

"Don't be. I already completely forgave you so don't let me hear you apologise about it anymore." Harry laughed.

"Did I tell you how wonderful you are?"

"Yes maybe once."

"You are." He kissed her again and looked her in the eye while playing with her hair. "Did I also tell you how much I love you?" Ginny's breath caught in her throat.

"No, I don't believe you have." she said rather croakily.

"I love you so much it hurts. I love every part of you. Your eyes..." he kissed both her eyes, "your nose..." kissed her nose, "your heart..." he pushed aside her robes to reveal a blue V-neck shirt. He pushed the neck line over and kissed her right over her heart. "I...love...you." Between every word he kissed her on the lips. He then looked into her eyes and noticed tears running out of them. He gently wiped them away. Ginny took a deep shuddering breath.

"Harry, I..." she was unable to speak anymore because she had dissolved into tears." Harry smiled at her. "Ha....Harry..."

"I know. I know. You don't have to say it. I already know." They kissed again until Ginny couldn't take it anymore and just cried into Harry's chest.

"I...love...you, so....much." Harry held her until her crying stopped. The tears were replaced by hiccups.

"Let's go get you some water." she nodded and smiled at him. They walked out with their arms wrapped around each other and went to the kitchen. They sat at the kitchen table together and Harry took in his surroundings.

"Gin, where are we?"

"You've never been here before?"

"No."

"This is Ron and Hermione's house."

"Oh...er-how did I get here?" Ginny nearly dropped her glass of water.

"You don't even remember?"

"No the last day I remember anything from is Sunday. The whole time I was where ever I was, I was only conscious for a couple hours that day." Ginny looked how Harry felt. Confused.

"So....you don't have any idea what happened between that time and the time you woke up this morning?"

"No. It's a complete blank." Ginny stared down at the table, tracing invisible patterns with her finger. Quite suddenly, Harry felt a searing burn on his inner left wrist. Slowly he turned it up and immediately felt nausea creeping up on him. He spotted a bathroom at the end of a hallway that was off of the kitchen and ran for it. He made it just in time to be sick in the toilet. A hand started rubbing his back in slow circles. Harry wiped his mouth and flushed the toilet.

Ginny turned his head toward her and pointed her wand at his mouth. His mouth tasted fresh like toothpaste. 

"Blow your breath on me." He complied and she smiled. "Good. I'll go get some anti-nausea for you to take and some water." She returned a couple minutes later with a vile of thick pink liquid and a glass of water.

"Pepto-Bismol?" Harry asked.

"What's that?"

"Nothing. Muggle medicine for upset stomachs."

"No, this will be much more effective. Here." Harry downed it in one gulp and pulled a face.

"Not very good though."

"What made you sick?" He looked at her, wondering if he should show her. He decided to. Might as well, he figured if he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He turned his left arm up and showed her the Dark Mark on his arm. She gasped and scooted away on her butt.

"Harry, you actually let them do that to you?" Harry furrowed his eyebrows at her and found himself getting angry.

"Of course not." he snapped. "I don't remember it happening. Its exactly what happened last time the Death Eaters captured me. They put it on me but I don't remember it happening. I guess I'll just have to find another Muggle doctor to take it off."

"Muggles can do that?"

"Yeah, I was surprised too..."

"Here you two are. I was wondering." They looked up and saw Hermione smiling at them with baby Harry in her arms. Harry jumped up and gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Morning beautiful."

"Morning handsome."

"Hand him over."

"Careful, I just fed him. He might spit up."

"I don't mind a little spit up 'Mione." Harry took Harry Jr. into his arms and played with his hair.

"How are you feeling this morning Harry?"

"Fine, my ribs are hurting. I don't know why though."

"Well....they were broken, I mended them as best I could without a potion. I'll get it for you now so that you can mend properly." Harry and Ginny walked into the living room and sat on the couch. Hermione walked in a minute later with a green bath robe and a vial of potion in each hand.

"Here, this is Roan's robe, put it on. We don't want that travesty of a body walking naked around here." Harry handed Harry Jr. to Ginny and stood up.

"What, you're telling me that you don't want my body? You know you want it. Look at these muscles." He said as he flexed his arms and chest.

"No, I don't want your body. I'll stick with Ron's flabby belly Six packs aren't for me."

"Well, that's a first. Someone doesn't want me." he said in mock hurt.

"I want your body Harry. It is quite sexy."

"That's all I need then." he smiled and bent down to kiss Ginny.

"I must say Harry that I kind of want your body too." Harry looked up and saw Ron.

"Uh, sorry mate. I don't swing that way." Ron laughed.

"The only person I want is the beautiful woman standing in front of you. Ginny can have your body. Put that robe on already. I can't take it anymore." Harry grabbed the robe out of Hermione's hands.

"I knew it. I'm just too damned sexy for you all."

"You need to drink this potion and then stick a pin in that over inflated ego of yours."

"Ah, 'Mione. You know I'm only joking."

"I did at first, but now I'm not so sure." she said with a sly smile. "I'll go make breakfast."

Over an English breakfast, Harry was berated with all sorts of questions from Ron and Hermione. They wanted to know everything that had happened to him over the past week.

"But Harry, there's gotta be something else you remember. How could five whole days just slip from your memory?"

"Ron, obviously they were torturing him the whole time so his brain just turned off when it became too much to handle. I mean there can't be any other explanation for it. What I'm really curious about is how he got here? It just doesn't make sense. We never even told him where we live so how could he just apparate here?"

"I don't know how I got here. Right now, I don't even want to think about it. I just want to go home, put some clean robes and find a good Muggle doctor to take this horrid thing off. And maybe get some more sleep. I'm exhausted."

"Harry, you at least need to make an appearance so that people know you're OK. And then call off the search. You especially need to see Sirius. He's been a wreck."

"Yes, I will do those things after I get some clothes. I can't go around in your bath robe Ron. I better get going now." Harry made to stand up but was stopped by Hermione.

"Now wait just a minute there, Harry. You can't go back to your house as you."

"Well, I was going to make my hair short again."

"Think about it logically." Hermione said in a haughty voice. "You can't have James AND Harry come back on the same day. It would look too suspicious. If you come back today as Harry, then you can't just apparate to your house. Reporters have been staked out there since your disappearance. What I suggest is that Ron alerts the Ministry that we've found you but you're coming back as James. The cover story was that you, James had family problems back in America that you needed to attend to. They can be settled now. And so lets say in a week or so, you Harry, can be found and since all your marks will be gone; we'll just say that we had you here for a day and took care of everything before you went out into the press."

"You've been thinking about this a bit haven't you?"

"No, I actually just came up with that now. I'm sure there's something I've missed but we'll fix it later. OK, so now Ron and Ginny can apparate with you to your house; no, scratch that. We'll get Greg and Brian over here and they can go with you. Ron can go to the Ministry to inform them of what has happened. Ginny, well, I suppose you can do whatever you want." Ten minutes later, Harry was still trying to take in everything Hermione had said. She had spoken very fast. His bodyguards were already over and they had brought some Muggle clothes for him to wear. So Harry, with his arm around Ginny and the other clutching his dirty robes, apparated to the front of his house. Reporters jumped into action and closed the space between them. Greg and Brian pushed their way through with Harry and Ginny protectively in between them. Flashes were going off in every direction. Harry found himself a bit apprehensive from the flashes. He was expecting a mist to go over his face at any second. The group ran inside the house and closed the door.

"I need some sort of protection around this house so that they won't be able to do that anymore."

"We already thought of it. The Ministry wasn't able to come until today. They'll be here later to disperse the crowd and put protection up."

"Good, one less thing I need to worry about contacting the Ministry about. I do feel like I should answer at least some questions for them."

"No, Harry you can't."

"Greg and I will do it, Mr. Newark."

"Brian, it's James. Not Mr. Newark."

"Sorry, I forgot. We'll just go answer a few questions for them."

"Thank you." Harry decided to go put in his blue contacts and then get dressed in clean robes. He rummaged around in his dirty robes pockets for his saline solution and found his wand. "I thought they took this from me." he muttered.

"What's that, Harry?"

"My wand. They told me on Sunday that they took it. I'm guessing they wouldn't lie but how in the world did I get it back?"

"I don't know. That's really strange. Just another thing you might never fight out. Is it all right if I take a shower?" Harry wrapped his arms around Ginny's tiny waist.

"On one condition."

"And what's that?"

"You've got give me a kiss."

"Oh, I don't think that would be possible." Harry lowered his head slightly.

"Really? Are you sure about that?" he asked in deep sexy voice. He gave her an Eskimo kiss and then brushed his lips lightly against hers. Involuntarily, Ginny's knees almost gave way and she had to hold onto Harry's neck even tighter.

"Maybe we can work something out." Ginny whispered against his lips. Harry grinned and pressed his lips firmly against hers. Ginny opened her mouth and Harry immediately deepened the kiss. Their hands entwined in the others hair. Harry started giving her kisses down the nape of her neck and then went up and nibbled on her earlobe. A low moan escaped her throat. Harry muffled the sound with his mouth. He started kissing down her neck again nibbled the area where her collarbones met to make a triangular shape. She masked another moan by speaking.

"I...I thought you only wanted one kiss."

"This kiss hasn't ended yet." he breathed into her neck.

"I'm going to go take a shower." She pulled away and Harry smirked at her.

"Want me to join you?"

"As tempting as that sounds, I'm going to have to pass. I wouldn't get clean."

"What makes you so sure?" Harry asked innocently. "Who says I wasn't going to be a gentleman and help you get clean? I'd be more than happy to."

"I'm sure you would. But no."

"Tease." She grinned wickedly and walked away. Harry watched her hips sway back and forth until she disappeared out of his room.

"I'm going to need another shower. A very very cold shower." He ran a hand through his short hair in frustration and left the room to pour himself a drink in the living room. As he entered, the large fireplace turned green and a body came out.

"Harry! I've been worried sick about you." Sirius walked the distance between them and embraced his godson in a hug.

"Hey Sirius. I'm glad to see you too but you're choking me." He backed away.

"Sorry." The fire turned green again and out shot Steve closely followed by Remus.

"Steve? I haven't seen you in months! How are you doing?"

"Good. I should be asking you this. You're the one who was kidnapped."

"Oh, that's why you're here?"

"Yeah, I've been staying with Sirius for the past week."

"You've actually taken it off of work?"

"Well, I went in on Wednesday. But I didn't last long. The time change was horrible. I was done by noon over there. They have me permanently connected to the Floo Network. Now I can come see you any time I want!" Harry groaned.

"What have you guys done? Just when I get away from him!" Harry laughed and slapped him on the back. "Only joking, Steve don't look so hurt. Hey Remus! All right? The full moon was this week right?" Remus looked extremely tired and his robes were once again hanging off him.

"Yeah, I've got a very good potion brewer making the Wolfsbane Potion. Works much better than Snape's. I can actually put sugar in it." Harry smiled at the recollection of when he had first witnessed Remus take the potion from Snape. Harry hadn't known that he was a werewolf then and he had thought Snape was trying to poison Lupin.

"That's good, I'm glad."

"Do you mind if I go and make myself some coffee? I need to wake up a bit."

"Sure, go help yourself."

"I'll come with you, Remus." Sirius and Remus walked to the kitchen together.

"Honestly, if you had told me a couple months ago that I would become friends with a werewolf and a man who can change into a dog; I would have said you're crazy." Harry laughed.

"But didn't you realise that you've been friends with a lion for five years?"

"What?" Harry changed into a dark tan lion with a even darker mane that was almost black. There were markings around his eyes that indicated that that was where his glasses usually sat when he wore them.

"Whoa!" Steve jumped back as Harry changed back.

"And a hawk." Harry changed into a hawk and flew around the room.

"That's amazing. I still can't get over it. I wish I could do that."

"I could try to transfigure you into something."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Harry. You could get into serious trouble with the Ministry if you messed it up."

"Gin, you're no fun. And don't call me Harry right now. Only when I'm Harry."

"I can't believe that actually makes sense." Ginny laughed.

"Another red head, huh?"

"What? Oh, yeah. She's the girl from school I told you about. Ginny. And would you believe it, she was the girl that I wanted at the Oasis that last night we went out together. I knew she looked familiar. Well anyway, Ginny, this is my friend Steve. Steve, this is my girlfriend Ginny." Harry was pleased to see that they got along quite well. Harry was pulled away from them by a tapping on the window. He turned to see a huge black bird outside tapping it's beak on the glass. He moved to open it and it flew into the room and landed on the arm of the couch. Harry removed the letter and it took off through the still open window.

The letter was addressed in red ink. _Mr. Harry Potter_ Knowing where this was going, Harry sat on the couch and opened the letter up and read:

_Dear Harry Potter,_

You managed to get away from us at the expense of several lives. I shouldn't need to waste any time in telling you that you took out my best men. I am not happy at all. You will pay. Mark my words. You will not get out alive next time, Potter. Watch your back. People you love may not be who they seem to be. Until we meet again.

Harry furrowed his brow. _I got away at the expense of several lives? What the hell happened?_ He folded the letter and pocketed it. The letter would stay a secret. It had said that somebody he loves is not who they seem to be. Who the hell could it be? Nobody ever gave him any reason not to trust them. Ginny and Steve were staring at him, with concern in their eyes. He nervously ran a hand through his hair and smiled at them.

"Do either of you want coffee or tea?"

"No." they echoed.

"All right, well I'm going to get some coffee. If you change your mind. You know where the kitchen is." As he walked out he heard Ginny mutter to Steve,

"It was another one of those letters. He got two of them at the hospital last Friday. I know that they have something to do with his kidnapping but he won't say anything about them."

Half an hour later, Harry, Ginny, Steve, Sirius and Remus were all sitting in the living room speaking happily with one another. Harry wasn't really paying attention. His eyes were straying over to the archway that led out of the living room, but his eyes were unfocused not really looking at anything. Laughter rang out from outside the living room and Harry's head jerked up. The sight that met his eyes made his jaw drop.

Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy were doubled up laughing and gave each other a high five.

"I think hell must have just frozen over." Harry said faintly. The two walked into the living room wiping tears of laughter away from their eyes. Harry jumped up and ran over to them and felt their foreheads.

"Are you two feeling all right?" They both swiped Harry's hands away.

"Yes, of course we're all right. Do we look sick?" asked Ron.

"Actually, that's exactly what I was thinking. You two have never gotten along."

"Well, neither have you and I, but we do now, don't we?"

"Well, yes." he said slowly. "But, you two fought worse than we ever did."

"True. But in the past week, while we've been looking for you; we've decided to put aside our differences. Its not like we still don't fight. We just had one moments before we apparated here to help get rid of those damned reporters for you."

"You helped look for me too, Draco?"

"Of course." Harry's mouth dropped open. He still hadn't had much time to adjust to Draco's new friendship. It was all very new still. Draco closed Harry's mouth for him. "Don't look so surprised. I told you that I wanted to be your friend didn't I?"

"Yes, its just still like a new concept to me. I'm sure I'll get used to it. So, what was so funny." They both snickered.

"Well, Malfoy." Ron burst into laughter along with Draco.

"And then Weasley.....that reporter." They couldn't get another coherent word out of them for some time. When Draco managed to control himself, he slapped Harry on the back.

"We've got practice and you need to go. As do I. I haven't been there all week."

"What? It's a Saturday."

"They heard you were back so they called a last minute practice so that you could play. Not that you really need to. I mean you didn't get on a broom for five years and you were still great. So, I don't know why they called it. But whatever."

"All right. Ginny." he walked over to her and picked her up. She let out a squeal of surprise. "What did you have planned for today?"

"Well, I was going to stay here and wait for you to get back."

"Good, I've spent far too much time away from you all week." He gave her a full kiss on the mouth and only broke away when pillows from the couches came flying at them. Harry lifted his hand and sent all the pillows at everybody, successfully hitting everybody in the face. "Well, Draco. My work here is done. Let's go." They turned to go but Draco stopped when he saw Ron. He laughed and then sighed and closed his eyes and put his hand over his chest.

"That'll go down in the record books, Weasley."

"Not if you never tell anybody!" sighed Harry and dragged Draco out of the room. Harry gave him a calculating look. "I'm really starting to worry about you. You're friends with Ron. What's the world coming to?"

A/N: **Please review!!** Is my story getting worse? Not as many peeps are reviewing! Actually I think it may be getting worse. This chapter was pretty long and nothing really happened. But I guess I'll let you be the one to judge. I can't really give you too much on **Chapter seven** because I haven't written the whole thing yet! :( But there is going to be trouble in paradise with Harry and Ginny!! And more Quidditch. 


	7. Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Harry Potter. Don't sue me.

A/N: **If you want to know when I update, just leave your email address in the reviews or email me at mione2003@hotmail.com.** I just want to warn people now, that this chapter gets kind of fluffy. But I had to do it. I don't always like too much fluff but I thought it was kind of necessary. Anyway, enjoy Chapter seven!

**Chapter Seven** The next couple weeks were spent practising for the upcoming two week tour around the world. The first game in the six game stretch was against the US team which would take place on November 20th. The Cannons were currently fourth place and if they beat the US, they would go up a spot. So training was becoming increasingly difficult. Harry was really straining himself like he never had before, and not just with practice.

A week and a half after he had turned up at Ron and Hermione's; he went to the press saying that he was back and unharmed. The media was now looking out for Harry all the time because he still refused to give them interviews. They were all wanting the same thing: for him to speak about Voldemort. Whenever he went out as Harry, he made sure that he had a couple people with him so that he could fend the reporters off. He decided to keep his public appearance as Harry minimal. People were suspecting that something was up between him and James Newark. That was partly what was making him so stressed out and tired.

The only person able to help him to lessen his stress was Ginny. Every time he saw her, a big weight would lift off of him and his heart seemed to float; and a big goofy grin would spread across his face. Ginny began calling him Cheshire because he looked like the Cheshire Cat when he grinned at her.

On the morning of November 12th, Harry woke up, rolled over and embraced Ginny in a hug. She was still sleeping peacefully but doing this was fast becoming one of his favourite things to do. He started kissing her all over her face and then kissed her underneath her ear.

"Harry, it's too early to be up and it's especially too early to be kissing me." Ginny said sleepily.

"It's nine! And it's never too early to kiss you. Admit it, you like being woken up this way."

"I never said I didn't enjoy it. I just said it's too early. We were kind of up late last night if you have forgotten already."

"How could I? That's not something I could forget. Of course, any kind of sex with you is not easily forgotten."

"OK, Mr. Lewd. When did you become so sex driven?" He gave her his Cheshire cat grin.

"I don't know. Probably back in Hogwarts when I thought I couldn't have you. In my 6th year, I think it was. When I saw you at the Burrow before term started. I don't mean to sound vulgar but I almost came in my pants."

"Oh stop! You did not."

"I didn't, I said almost." he grinned.

"So that's when you became sex driven, Cheshire?"

"Well, not immediately then. It was when I realised that you weren't shy around me anymore. I thought that you had gotten over your crush on me."

"I still don't understand how that has to do with me."

"Well, I guess...I was trying to get off some energy. And I started spending a lot of time with Parvati and some other girls, and of course the occasional cold shower. Oh man, I've said too much. Now you'll think I'm a some sort of freak and want to break up with me."

"Don't be stupid. I love you. I just wish I would have known you liked me then. And Parvati Patil? You can't be serious!"

"Yeah, she was my first in 6th year. I only told Ron about it. It happened after the Yule Ball that year."

"Oh yeah, I remember that Ball. You two were all over each other. Of course I would have known. I was watching you, hoping my glare would petrify Parvati."

"Oh well, no need bringing up that. I've got you now and I'm never letting you go." He rolled on top of her and kissed her full on the lips. A loud knock came at the door. "Damn it." muttered Harry.

"Sorry to bother you, but Ron and Hermione are going to be coming here in a little while. They told me to tell you."

"Thanks Brian." Harry yelled through the door. "I forgot they wanted to do something with me today. Damn." He lazily kissed her neck. "You'll be the death of me woman. Mark my words. I'm so in love with you."

"Good, because I'm so in love with you." Harry kissed her one last time and disentangled himself from her and the blankets. He stood up and stretched in his full naked glory.

"Mmm...I could take in that view all day." Ginny said lazily.

"I wish I could let you, but I am in desperate need of a shower before Ron and 'Mione get here. I should have been up earlier."

"I should have reminded you because I remembered. Oh well, you have time. And don't forget that Harry's christening is on Sunday."

"How could I? For one, you keep reminding me and for another, I'm going to be the godfather. Kind of hard to forget a thing like that." He wrapped a bath robe around himself and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. He returned twenty minutes later, sporting his 'Harry' hair, his green eyes with glasses and of course his scar.

"I like your green eyes much better." Ginny said as she walked past him to the bathroom.

"I know, you tell me every day." After Harry changed into his favourite dark green robes, he went to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. Greg and Brian walked in a moment later.

"Hey guys. Why didn't you two have a lie in as well?"

"We forgot that you don't have practice today."

"Nice."

"There's someone waiting at the door for you. I think it's a reporter."

"Was she asking for Harry or James?"

"James."

"Damn." He waved his hand over his hair to make it short again and then enchanted his eyes blue, leaving his glasses on. He started walking to the door when Brian pulled him back.

"What?"

"Your scar."

"Oh yeah, thanks. That wouldn't have been good. And maybe you should come with me in case she turns out to be a raving lunatic." Harry opened the door with Brian behind him to see a woman with light brown hair and blue eyes grinning at him.

"May I help you with something?" he asked politely.

"Mr. Newark..."

"Call me James."

"OK, James. I'm Rebecca Wendling, reporter for _Witch Weekly._ I was wondering if I could get a few words with you."

"Oh well, I uh...interviews are usually scheduled in advance."

"Yes, I understand that but you're harder to get an interview with than Harry Potter. And you two are the most asked about wizards. Our readers are constantly requesting articles about you and Mr. Potter."

"Well...I guess I do have a bit of time right now to answer some questions. Come in, would you like some coffee?"

"Yes, thank you so much. This is helping me out tremendously. Everybody says how sweet you are and now I know it's true," she blushed profusely.

"Oh well, thank you." He led her to the kitchen and put on some more coffee. Just as he set some coffee down for Rebecca and himself, Ginny walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, Ha..." Harry opened his eyes wide and shook his head. Luckily Rebecca was looking at Ginny.

"Gin, this is Rebecca Wendling from _Witch Weekly._ Rebecca this is my girlfriend, Ginny Weasley."

"Nice to meet you, Ginny."

"Likewise, James, I didn't know you had an interview scheduled today."

"I didn't. It was sudden but I'm going to answer her a couple questions."

"OK, but Ron and Hermione just got here."

"Oh well bring them something to drink while they are waiting, could you, Gin?"

"Sure."

"I'll come see them in a bit." Ginny took some cups with her and retreated to the living room.

"I do hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No, don't be ridiculous. My friends can see me any time they want."

"OK, shall we get started then?"

"Ask away." Harry leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. The reporter took out a Quick-Quotes Quill, sucked on the end and placed it on her paper. Harry cringed. His experience with those kind of quills was not pleasant.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but could we not use that quill. I have never had a good experience with them and I have a feeling that I never will."

"Oh, sure. I'll just use a normal quill then." she put the Quick-Quotes Quill back into her purse and extracted another one.

"Thanks."

"No problem. OK well, my first question was going to be if you're single but I got that answer so, how long have you two been dating?"

"Since the middle of August."

"Do you two have plans for marriage at a near point in the future?"

"Well, we haven't spoken about it but I've certainly been thinking about buying her an engagement ring. I just haven't had time to look lately."

"So, no other witches would stand a chance with you?"

"Afraid not, no." She laughed.

"Our readers will be disappointed. They've been constantly asking if it was true about your relationship with Ginny....Let's see, there were some rumours a couple weeks ago that you disappeared or rather was kidnapped by the same people who captured Harry Potter. Are they true?" Harry smiled at her.

"Of course not. I find it highly amusing that people would jump to those conclusions just because I went back to America for a week. Honestly, if Harry and I would have been in the same place, I would have helped him out. Not leave him for dead. He was lucky to even make it back."

"Have you ever met him?"

"Yes, a couple times. Two of his best friends are also friends of mine. Ginny is also one of his old friends."

"There were also rumours about you and Harry possibly being relatives." Harry smiled. _What would she do if I were to tell her that we are related. Yeah he's me._

"We're not. I assure you. We hardly know each other."

"Harry! Harry! Where the hell are you? I need to talk to you!" Harry froze in his seat as Steve came flying into the kitchen. "Harry, I can't believe the nerve of you!" The reporter had a bewildered look on her face while Harry was staring at Steve with wide eyes and the blood rushing to his face.

"You gave me this shit and when I ate it, I turned into a canary! Right in front of my date. I had no idea what to say after I moulted. Of course she bolted. Hey Potter! Are you going to speak or are you going to sit there like an idiot?"

"No Steve, I'm going to beat the shit out of you. I'm kind of in the middle of an interview here and if you don't stop calling me Harry Potter; you don't even want to know what'll happen to you. Your face will be unrecognisable. You will never have to worry about another date running away from you because you turned into a canary because you will NEVER have a date ever again." Steve cottoning on, turned a deep shade of red.

"Oh yeah, sorry James. You know how I like to give you shit about that. I won't do it anymore." he ran out of the kitchen. Harry turned and smiled at the reporter.

"Obliviate!" Her eyes turned lazy and then refocused on Harry.

"Now where were we?"

"You were just going to ask me something about Quidditch."

"Oh yeah," she replied lazily. Harry looked up and saw Hermione putting her wand away. He mouthed thanks before she returned to the living room. Twenty minutes later, Harry was showing the reporter out the door. After he closed the door, he let out a sigh of relief and then ran for the living room.

"Steve! If you ever do that again!" he yelled.

"I know, I know. Hermione already lectured me. It was dumb, I'm sorry."

"Who was that reporter writing for Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Er-_Witch Weekly_ Apparently, I've been nominated as most Handsome Wizard, Best Quidditch Player and Best Smile." he replied while turning a deep crimson red. Ron and Steve started laughing while Harry glared at them. "Shut it. I'm not enjoying this you know. And to make matters worse, I have to go for a photo shoot with them next week. What a complete nightmare."

"Oh yes. I can see how millions of girl fawning over you would be a complete nightmare. And thousands more kids looking up to you and idolising you. Must be real tough!" Ron said sarcastically.

"Shut up. You know I hate fame. It just happens. And I don't need the attention from girls when I've got the only one I want with me."

"Don't make me vomit, Harry. That's my sister you're talking about. Let's go before our baby-sitter fee is through the roof."

~*~*~

The next Saturday was the game against the US team in LA. Immediately after the game, the team would be leaving to Brazil, then India, Germany, Italy, and then the last game would be played at home against the Wimbourne Wasps.

The stadium in the US that they would be playing at was located at the park where Harry had shown Dan Smalls his flying skills. Nearly everybody who knew who James really was, was attending the game. Sirius, Remus, Ron, Hermione, Harry Jr., Ginny, and Steve, who was especially excited since he had never seen a Quidditch game before.

As the Cannons were introduced, Harry flew out onto the field to tumultuous applause from both the US supporters and the Cannons supporters. He couldn't help but smile as he took the warm up laps around the field. He spotted his group of friends and waved like mad to them and blew Ginny a kiss and then laughed madly at the look on her face. Like she was going to kill him for causing every girl around her to scowl in her direction.

"And here are the Stars! Carter, Anderson, Nicholas, Greening, Little, Walters, aannnd Merrill!" Applause and screams filled the air as the US Stars (A/N: I know, pretty lame but I couldn't come up with anything else!) were introduced to the audience. After a couple more laps around the stadium, the players were called into place. Across from Harry, was the US seeker, Merrill and he was looking particularly murderous at him. Harry quickly looked down from his gaze and saw the Captains, Carter and Connoly shaking hands with one another. A moment later the quaffle, bludgers, and snitch were released into the air. Harry and the US seeker, Merrill, rose up above the rest of the game and began their search for the snitch. Harry listened to the commentary as he scanned the area.

"And Malfoy takes immediate possession of the quaffle, to Connoly, Malfoy, Chang; close one there! Chang almost gets hit by a bludger, hit by Greening, she drops the quaffle into Malfoy's hands. He fakes Walters out and puts it through the left hoop! 10-0 to the Cannons!

"Carter takes possession, he tears down the field, passes to Nicholas, to Anderson, back to Carter. He takes the shot, blocked by Cannons keeper Bregg! Chang takes the quaffle, passes to Connoly, Malfoy, Chang, back to Connoly. Oh! He's hit in the shoulder by a bludger, hit by the Stars beater, Little. The quaffle is dropped into Anderson's hands. Connoly looks all right, he's right back in the game. Anderson takes the quaffle up the field, passes to Nicholas, she shoots for the middle hoop, and it goes in! 10-10 to the Stars!"

After another half an hour, the score was 60-50, the Stars lead. Neither one of the seekers had seen the snitch. It was eluding Harry and he was starting to get impatient. He was looking forward to after the game when he could go out with Ginny, Steve, Sirius, Remus and Ron. Harry watched as Malfoy flew down the field with the quaffle in his hands and put the quaffle through the middle hoop. The score was now 60-60. He desperately searched for the snitch.

Just one little shimmer of gold. The flutter of wings.

And then he saw it. It was in the middle of the pitch, hovering a couple feet off of the ground. He pointed his broom down and was going down so sharply that he was almost vertical to the ground. Again the sound shut off. The only sound he could hear was the fluttering of the wings. And the only thing in his vision was the little golden ball. Everything else around him seemed to be a blur.

Three feet from the ground, he pulled his broom straight and tore towards the snitch. He stretched out his left arm to catch it, but just as he was a couple feet away from it; it flew a little further to his left. He stretched his arm so far away from his broom that he was upside down on his broom. His legs were wrapped around the broom and his right hand was holding his upper body up. But just as he swivelled upside down, his hand had wrapped around the snitch. Harry hadn't even realised that he caught it until his team-mates flew down and helped him to sit upright on his broom and started slapping him on the back. The final score was 210-60. Harry took the victory lap around the stadium with his team-mates and then made their way down to the locker rooms to shower and deal with the press and fans.

~*~*~

"Hermione, come down the locker rooms with me."

"Hold on, Ginny. I'll give Harry to Ron first and then we'll go." It was a half an hour after the match and Harry's group of friends were still sitting in the stands waiting for Harry to get done. Sirius and Remus had already gone down to the locker room to speak with Harry. Ginny was looking down at the entrance to the locker rooms and saw the press finally starting to filter out and decided to go down and meet Harry. Once Hermione and Ginny were in the entrance, they were stopped by Seamus Finnigan.

"Some game James played, huh?" he asked them jovially.

"Yeah, he did really well today. Of course he always does well," said Ginny.

"You're just biased because he's your boyfriend," Hermione joked.

"Maybe I am." She walked pass Seamus. "Talk to you later Seamus. Coming Hermione?"

"I'll just wait here for a bit. I haven't spoken to Seamus in a while. Go ahead."

"Oh Seamus, are the players alone in there? Or are there fans and reporters still?" asked Ginny.

"No fans aren't allowed back, so no. The reporters were just rushed out because some of them walked in on the players taking showers. Luckily nobody with cameras."

"OK, thanks." Ginny continued down the long hallway and turned the corner. She stopped dead in her tracks and stared at the scene playing out before her. A fire started burning in her eyes and she felt her pulse quicken. Standing outside the entrance to the locker room, was Harry and a girl with long brown hair. Harry had his hands on the girls shoulders and they were kissing. The girl had her arms completely wrapped around his middle. Ginny could hear Harry making sounds that she had never heard him make while they had been kissing. Tears cascaded down her face and she pulled out her wand to hex him, but couldn't think of anything to do to him that would cause him the same amount of pain that she was going through at that moment. She pocketed her wand and turned on her heel. She wiped the tears from her face as she walked back down the hallway towards Hermione and Seamus.

"Ginny, where's James? I thought you were going for him?"

"He told me to wait. I'm going to go back up into the stands," she said in a choked voice.

"What happened? Are you OK?"

"Nothing happened. And yes of course, I'm fine." She again, turned on her heel and left for her seat. Hermione and Seamus watched her go with confusion on their faces.

~*~*~

"Thanks for helping me out there, Sirius. You're a life saver."

"No problem, Harry."

"Where is everybody?"

"They are still up in the stands waiting for you," replied Remus. The three started up the stairs to where Ron, Steve, Hermione, Harry Jr. and Ginny were sitting. Harry walked up behind Ginny and put his arms around her and kissed her neck.

"Hello, beautiful." He felt her tense up and she pushed him off of her. "What's wrong, Gin?"

"You really are stupid, aren't you?"

"Um, excuse me? Did I miss something here?" Ginny scowled at him.

"I'm afraid that I'm not going to be coming out with you boys tonight. I'll be staying with Hermione to take care of the baby."

"So....that's why you just called me stupid and won't let me touch you?"

"Honestly, Harry, you should know perfectly well why I won't let you touch me. Quit playing dumb; you know perfectly well what you did. Come on, Hermione. Let's go use the fireplace in that Muggle gym." She kissed Ron on the cheek and started down the stairs. Harry looked at Hermione.

"Do you know what I did?"

"No idea. She's been acting strangely ever since you told her to wait for you."

"But, I never told her to wait. When did she say this?"

"After she went to see you in the locker room. She came back all huffy and looking ready to cry and she told me that you had told her to wait for you." Harry Jr. started to cry in her arms. "I've gotta go. It's time for his feeding. I'll see you in a couple weeks." She kissed Harry on the cheek and then Ron and told them to have fun. Harry had gone a pale colour and looked up at Sirius and Remus who were looking just as guilty. He dropped down in a seat and put his head in his hands.

"How am I going to have fun now that Ginny thinks I've cheated on her?"

"WHAT?" Ron yelled. "You cheated on my little sister?"

"No, Ron, he didn't," Sirius said wearily.

"Then what in the world would give her that idea?"

"A fan somehow got into the locker rooms and Harry was showing her out the door and she slammed the door shut behind them and put a locking charm on it. It took Remus and I a couple minutes to figure out which one she put on. When we got it open, Harry was trying to push the girl off of him. She had a death grip around him. I could hardly get the girl off; luckily Remus was there. He was able to get her off only because werewolves have super human strength." Sirius shook his head. "It would almost be funny if this wouldn't have happened. Ginny must have seen just before we got out there."

"I can't go out with you guys tonight now. I have to go and talk to her. Not that she'll believe me, but I can't wait until I get back from this damn tour. She'll be even angrier then."

"Don't worry too much, Harry. We'll help you explain what happened. She's gotta believe us. We know what happened," Remus said. Harry smiled at them.

"Thanks guys. You should go out and have fun. Steve can show you guys around since he knows what he's doing in LA. I have a long night ahead of me. It's a good thing the game isn't tomorrow. See you later guys." With that he Apparated to Ron and Hermione's house where Hermione and Ginny were. He appeared in their Apparition area in their back yard and went and knocked on the back door. Hermione answered with a dark expression.

"Harry, I can't believe you would do that to Ginny. I never would have thought it of you."

"Hermione, I didn't. That girl attacked me. If Ginny would have stayed, she would have seen Sirius and Remus wrestling that girl off of me. She somehow got into the locker room and as I was showing her out the door, she pulled me out, put a locking charm on the door so that nobody could get out to help me. She had a death grip on me, Sirius couldn't even get her off. Remus could only because he's a werewolf. Please, just let me in to speak with her. I can't go on this tour until I do. I don't want to live without her and I'm afraid if I don't speak with her right now, she will never speak to me again. Please, Mione."

"Fine but I didn't let you in, you pushed past me. She'll kill me." Harry smiled and gave her a hug.

"Thank you." He walked into the house and into the kitchen where Ginny was sitting, drinking tea with tears pouring down her face. "Ginny," he said softly. She looked up and glared.

"Get out of here. I don't want to speak to you. You've done enough tonight."

"No, Ginny, you don't understand what happened..."

"I understand perfectly well what happened! You were kissing that girl outside of the locker room. How long have you been with her? The whole time we've been dating?"

"Ginny, listen to me. That girl attacked me. I swear, I've never seen that girl before in my life. You can ask Sirius and Remus about it. They helped wrestle the girl off of me. Well more Remus than Sirius."

"I did NOT see those two there. That's the most pathetic story I have ever heard."

"That's because the girl put a locking charm on the door and they didn't get out of the locker room for a minute or so. You probably saw right before they came out. Ginny, you've got to believe me. I swear, I would never cheat on you. I love you too much. Gin, I was going to propose tonight when we were alone." He pulled out a box and opened it up to reveal a diamond engagement ring. She looked at it and more tears ran down her face.

"Well, the next time you propose to someone, you want to make sure that you don't cheat on them before hand. Then maybe you'll get the chance to do it. Please leave." He knelt down in front of her and wiped her tears away just as some ran down his face.

"Please, Ginny. Believe me, I love you and I would never hurt you. You're everything to me. I don't know if I can go on if you leave me. Please believe me, I didn't cheat on you." He laid a trail of kisses from her cheek to her mouth. She willingly kissed him back for a few moments before she pulled away.

"No, Harry! You can't just expect me to forgive you by kissing me. Just leave, now."

"Fine, but I'm not giving up. I won't give up until I know it's over. I love you." He turned and went back out the door and Apparated to his hotel room in LA.

Every day for the next two weeks, he sent lilies and stuffed bears to Ginny's flat. He tried fire talking to her but she wouldn't hear any of it. Sirius and Remus had talked to her every day, as well as Ron and Hermione. Nobody ever told Harry the results of those conversations. He figured the worse. The only time he never thought about it was when he was playing Quidditch. Although every once in a while, he would catch a red head in the crowd and do a double take.

The fact that the Cannons had won every game they played so far, was helping him deal also. The only game where he didn't catch the snitch, they still won because they had such a commanding lead. They won 220-170. That was against Germany. Exactly two weeks after the game in LA, the game against the Wimbourne Wasps took place. The Cannons won 320-110. Harry denied Draco Malfoy the request to help him celebrate the end of the tour and all their wins. He just felt like returning home and going to bed for the next week since they had it off from practice and games. When Harry walked into the door, he saw his house crowded with all the lilies and bears that he had sent to Ginny.

"Bugger."

"What are all these from?" asked Brian who had walked in after Harry.

"I sent them to Ginny while we've been gone. She must have brought them all back here. Sirius and Remus walked in from the living room.

"Hello! It's about time you get home! That was a great game you just played today."

"Oh you were there?"

"Yes, we came here directly afterwards; figured we'd wait for you to get here."

"Well, I'm guessing Ginny sent all of these back here. That's just great. My life is over. I can't believe she won't believe me. Actually I can't believe that she would think that I would purposely kiss another girl behind her back. I would have told her about that girl but she never really gave me the chance to."

"Harry, calm down. She'll come around." Sirius smiled mischievously. Harry cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Well, I hope you're right. I hope you don't mind, I'm going to bed. I'm completely exhausted."

"Go right ahead. It's your house. Goodnight. Have a good nights sleep!" said Sirius jovially.

"OK, what's up with you?"

"Nothing, just happy to see my godson. That's all."

"All right then. Goodnight." Harry walked up to his room shaking his head. He would never understand that man. He opened up his bedroom door and walked across the darkened room to his walk-in closet and turned the light on in there. He dumped his clothes into a dirty clothes basket and stripped down to his boxers and walked to his bed. He stopped dead when he noticed a body sprawled across it. He lit a couple candles with a flick of his wand and saw that it was Ginny, sleeping with her hair laid out all over her face and pillow. He sat on the edge of the bed and wiped her hair away from her face.

"Ginny?" he whispered. He noticed that her face was all blotchy like she had been crying. Since she was sleeping, he decided to take her shoes off and then he eased her robes off so that she would just be in her shirt and pants. He kissed her face all the way to her ear.

"I love you," he whispered. A blanket was sitting at the end of the bed so he pulled it up over her and took another blanket and his pillow and laid on the plush couch that was in front of the window. Harry wasn't sure where they stood in their relationship so he decided that he wouldn't take the chance of her getting angry with him if she woke up with him next to her. He wanted to play everything safe so things didn't get worse. The moonlight streamed in through the window onto Ginny's face. He watched her sleep until sleep overtook him and he fell asleep to dreams of Ginny forgiving him.

Harry awoke to sun streaming in on his face and a warm weight on top of him and something tickling his chest. He looked down and saw Ginny lying on top of him, her face buried in his neck. Her hair was the thing that was tickling him. _What the hell? Don't complain. She's probably forgiven your sorry ass._ He wrapped his arms around her body and kissed her head. She lifted her head and looked at him.

"Good, you're up. I have been waiting for an hour now." She kissed him softly on the lips, and Harry opened his mouth to her when he felt her tongue against his lips. She moved down and started kissing his neck and chest.

"Er...Gin, not that I mind what you're doing to me right now. But I thought you were angry with me."

"Well, I was. But everybody has been explaining to me what happened and I couldn't not believe Sirius and Remus. Their story matches up with yours. Sirius actually begged me to think about it rationally. I don't think I've ever seen him beg before. And plus, I don't think I could live without you." Harry sighed with relief.

"That doesn't explain why the flowers and bears I sent you are downstairs though."

"Oh, I sent those ones back a couple days ago before I started to believe what happened. I have three vases of flowers at home and one bear. How many bears do you think I need?" she asked playfully.

"As many as I sent you, so that would be fourteen for every day that I was gone. That's not too many."

"Harry, I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I should have known that you would never cheat on me. I'm such an idiot."

"It's OK. Don't think about it anymore. It's in the past." He kissed her nose. "I love you so much, Gin."

"I love you too. Oh, I almost forgot! You left this on the kitchen table at Hermione's." She jumped up and ran to the bed and brought back the engagement ring. "I almost threw it away but I figured that you would get really mad at me."

"Probably, that was my mums. Sirius gave it to me when I told him that I was going to propose. He took my parents wedding rings from their hands when he went to Godric's Hollow the night they died and kept them in his Gringott's vault until I decided to get married." Her eyes went really wide.

"Oh my goodness. I'm so glad that I didn't toss it. I would have been so angry with myself." Harry pulled her into his lap.

"I've missed you so much. I never want to be away from you for that long ever again. Oh hey, listen, you didn't tell your parents that I cheated on you did you?"

"No, why?"

"Well, because I didn't want them thinking that I was the absolute scum of the earth."

"No you don't have to worry about it. Nobody could ever think that about you. I couldn't even think that when I thought you had cheated on me. It took all of my willpower to stay mad at you." She smiled brightly at him and kissed him. They stayed on the couch for a while until Harry decided that he needed a shower. Twenty minutes later, he was showered and fully clothed in dark maroon robes.

"Oh you're going out as James today?" asked Ginny.

"Well, I have to with you. People would think that you're cheating on me with Harry. We can't let that happen."

"I guess you're right. I just like seeing your green eyes better."

"You'll see them when we come back. Now go take a shower so we can go." They had decided to go out for the day in Diagon Alley to have lunch, and do some early Christmas shopping and to Flourish and Blotts to get some new books. A long thirty minutes later, Ginny came back into Harry's bedroom with her hair dried and some dark purple robes on. Harry took her into his arms.

"You look absolutely beautiful today." He kissed her on the nose.

"Thank you, you don't look so bad yourself." Harry looked into her eyes for a few moments. "What? Do have I have something on my face or something?" He began to fidget.

"No, your face is clean. I was just thinking about what my life would be like if I were to lose you. I never want that to happen. I love you so much."

"I love you too. You don't need to worry about ever losing me."

"Good, that makes me feel less nervous about this."

"About wh..." She stopped talking because Harry had gone down on one knee. She took a deep breath and tears rolled down her face.

"Ginny, nothing in this world has ever made me happier than when I have been with you. You're everything that is important to me. You're my entire life. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Ginny, will you marry me?" He held the ring out to her. She burst into tears.

"Yes, I'll marry you." He smiled and put the ring on her finger. She dropped down on her knees and hugged and kissed him. "I love you, Harry. I knew it was coming sometime soon but I'm still falling apart right now." She started laughing. "I can't wait to tell Hermione, and the rest of my family....Oh, Harry, are you going to tell them who you are? They don't know."

"Yes, we'll tell them soon enough. Let's go to Diagon Alley now. We can have a private celebration lunch."

"All right, let's go." They walked downstairs to find Greg and Brian. They were sitting in the kitchen reading the paper.

"Hey guys, we're going to Diagon Alley now." Before they could even say anything, Ginny started squealing.

"We're getting married!" Harry smiled at her as she hugged Greg and Brian. They shook Harry's hands and offered congratulations. A couple minutes later, they had used Floo powder to get into the Leaky Cauldron. They had a nice private lunch in one of the parlours and then went out into the Alley to start shopping. The first store that they went into after Gringott's was Flourish and Blotts. Harry walked out with three new books under his arm. Just as they stepped out of the shop, a loud explosion came to the right of him and he flew backwards. When he opened his eyes, there was dust and smoke hovering all around him and a little way in the distance, he could see a fire burning. He immediately started to panic.

"Ginny! Ginny! Where are you?" He carefully got up just in case he was injured and groped his way in the mess before his eyes. He could hardly see a foot in front of him. He saw Ginny just in time to stop himself from stepping on her. She was sprawled on the ground with her hair all over the place. When he knelt down beside her, he picked up her upper half and saw that there was blood on the ground where her head had been.

"Ginny? Ginny, please wake up," he said desperately. He gently shook her and kept saying her name. He got no response.

A/N: Uh oh. I love the cliff hangers. Please review! That would be awesome! Thanks to everybody who has already reviewed. Keep them coming, it gives me incentive to keep writing. I can't believe I finally got this done! I started writing it tonight and I couldn't stop! I just wrote over 4,000 words. Wow! In case you're wondering, I've had a major case of writers block and I am just now getting over it. Hopefully. I'd give you a preview of what's going to happen in the next chapter like I normally do, but I honestly don't know yet. Sorry! Don't forget to review!! 


	8. Chapter Eight

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Harry Potter. Don't sue me.

A/N: I am evil aren't I? :grins: If anybody wants to know when I update this story, please leave your email address in the reviews or email me at Mione2003@hotmail.com

**Chapter Eight**

_"Ginny? Ginny, please wake up," Harry said desperately. He gently shook her and kept saying her name. He got no response._

"James, where are you?"

"I'm over here. Come quick! Ginny's hurt, we need to get her to the hospital." The great bulking forms of Brian and Greg came into view through the smoke and debris.

"Are you hurt, James?" asked Brian.

"No, never mind me. Ginny isn't responding to me. We need to go." He picked her up into his arms and started for the Leaky Cauldron. "Are you two all right?" Harry asked belatedly.

"Yeah, don't worry about us. We were still inside the building so we didn't get in the way of the explosion. Sorry about that, James. One of us should have been in front of you and Ginny. Then it would be one of us in her position." Harry shook his head.

"Don't put the blame on yourselves. It's not your fault. You do your job well enough already. There's just nothing you could have done. One of you better take her when we go through the Floo network. I'm not very good with Floo, I always fall over." Greg took Ginny gently into his arms and Harry took a pinch of Floo powder and threw it into the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron.

"St. Mungo's Emergency Room!" he cried out and stepped into the fireplace. A few moments after he went through, Greg came through with Ginny and then Brian. They immediately ran to get a doctor. The doctors weren't too hard to find since they were swarming everywhere getting ready for the injured from Diagon Alley. A team of three doctors and two nurses took Ginny into a room and told Harry, Greg and Brian to go wait in a waiting room. Harry made use of the fireplace there and called Ginny's family. He took some powder out of a vase on top of the mantle and threw it into the fire.

"Arthur and Molly Weasley," he said wearily into the fire. It took a few moments before Molly Weasley's head came into view.

"James! What a surprise!" She noticed the look on his face. "What's happened? What's wrong?"

"I'm at St. Mungo's right now. Ginny and I were in Diagon Alley, she's being cared for by doctors. I don't know how bad she is but she was unconscious when we brought her in. I think maybe you and your husband should come in and call anybody else in your family. I'll call Ron and Hermione for you."

"Oh dear, not my girl. You don't know how she is? The doctor's didn't say anything?"

"No, they just told me to come into the waiting room."

"We'll be there as soon as possible, James. Thank you for calling."

"Of course." Molly's head disappeared from the fire and Harry took another pinch of the powder and threw it into the fire calling out, "Ron and Hermione Weasley." Hermione's head appeared a second later.

"Oh hello, Harry. Or is it James?"

"James. You should probably come to St. Mungo's, Mione."

"Why, what's happened?"

"Ginny and I were in Diagon Alley a while ago when the explosion happened. Ginny is with doctors right now. She was unconscious when we brought her in. The doctors wouldn't say anything on how she is. I don't know how she is. Is Ron there too?" Tears were forming in her eyes.

"No....he uh went to Diagon Alley to sort out the mess. Since you know he's an auror. He was called right after it happened. But I'll be coming with Harry Jr. See you in a few minutes then." Hermione's head disappeared from the fire.

"I'll go back to Diagon Alley to look for Ron if you like, James," said Brian.

"Yes, that would be great. Thanks, Brian." He quickly walked out of the waiting room to go Apparate to the Alley. They heard his gruff voice saying that James was inside the room and a moment later Arthur and Molly Weasley had come running into the room. Harry had been pacing the room but stopped when Molly wrapped him in a hug.

"James, I'm so glad you were there for her. Ron told us that you two had broken up over an argument."

"We did, but we made up this morning. It was supposed to have been a happy day, but then this happens." He ran a hand through his hair making it stand up at all ends, which was more or less how it naturally was supposed to be. Molly smiled at him.

"You really love her, don't you?" Harry looked her in the eyes and nodded.

"Yes, I do. More than anything else in my life."

"Well, when she comes out of this, maybe she'll be able to keep you from running your hand through your hair and making it stand up like that." Harry laughed.

"My hair is a hopeless case anyway. This is how it naturally is; a little gel and it's right as rain." She smiled at him.

"Maybe you should give hair lessons to Harry Potter then. His hair has always been hopeless like that." Harry laughed.

"Yes, I think I'll do that." They sobered up quite a bit once the rest of the family got there. Hermione handed Harry Jr. over to her mother-in-law and sat down next to Harry.

"Have you heard anything on her yet?"

"Not yet. It's making me really nervous....Mione, I can't lose her. She's the most important thing in my life. Don't get too excited right now or anything because I'm having a hard time being excited. But I proposed this morning and she said yes." Her eyes opened wide and a light lit up inside of them.

"Oh Harry," she whispered. "I had no idea you two had even made up, and your getting married? Congratulations, that's so wonderful." Harry nodded his head sadly. Hermione put a comforting hand on his forearm. "She'll make it through this. She's a strong woman and she won't give up without a fight. Before you know it, she'll be driving you crazy making all the wedding arrangements. So...when she comes through, are you going to tell the rest of the Weasley's about who you are?"

"Yes, I wasn't going to keep it from them forever. They are practically my adopted family. It hurts to keep it from them. But right now, I think it's necessary. The less people who know who I really am, the better. It's security. I'm already putting all of you in danger just by coming back to the wizarding world. I don't even know how we're going to do this wedding. Whose name am I going to use for her to say. James or Harry. If I use James and say I'm getting married, the press will be all over it. Of course, I guess it might be that way if I were to say Harry is getting married. This is getting confusing... But whoever marries us, is going to have to know who I am. And on the wedding license, whose name am I going to have? It's all so complicated." Hermione sighed deeply.

"I know you're tired of hearing about it, but you should have just come back as yourself."

"I know, but it's a little late for that now. And I'm not at all sorry that I did it. Ginny fell in love with me for me. Not the famous Harry Potter, like she did when she was nine. And when I'm out as James, nobody asks me about Voldemort. It's a relief. That's why I hardly go out as my real self. People bombard me with questions.

"I mean you've seen what it's like when we go out together. That last time was horrible, you know after Steve almost gave me away in front of that reporter from Witch Weekly? I can't believe the nerve of some people. I'm just glad Ron was there so he could threaten them with a few years in Azkaban for harassment." Hermione chuckled softly as she thought of the memory of Ron threatening people again.

"Speaking of the devil," she said. Ron had just come through the door, followed by Brian. Ron's face was so pale that his freckles looked almost black.

"How is she? Has anyone spoken to a doctor yet?"

"Not yet, Ron. I'm sure someone will come speak to us in a while. Just sit down. We can't afford to become panicky right now," said Arthur Weasley. Ron looked around the room and took in the family members who were already there. Fred, Angelina, George, Katie Bell, (they were just starting to date) Harry, Hermione and Harry Jr., and of course their parents.

"Where's Bill, Fleur, Charlie and Mai Lei?" (A/N: Mai is pronounced May, Lei is pronounced Lee. It's Asian, meaning beautiful and enchanting. Although I have seen many different ways of spelling it.)

"They are coming as soon as possible. Possibly in the next couple minutes," answered his mother. Harry cocked an eyebrow.

"Fleur and Mai Lei are their wives or girlfriends?" Ron sat down next to him and answered.

"Yeah, Fleur is Bill's wife and Mai Lei is Charlie's. I think Hermione and I have told you about Fleur before. You know she was one of the champions at the Tri-wizard tournament in our fourth year. Fleur Delacour?" Harry's eyes went wide.

"Oh! Oh, yes you have told me about her before. How long have they been married?"

"Two years. She's two months pregnant. I can't believe Ginny hasn't told you, or me for that matter. Yeah, but they met during the Tri-Wizard tournament and got together soon after that." Harry nodded his head. He had known that but couldn't say that.

"What about Mai Lei? How did Charlie meet her?"

"He went to China to get some dragon eggs from there and she was the one who met with him. They've been married for four years. They were only dating for about three months before they decided to get married. They were married on their one year anniversary. They have a little girl named, Adrianna. She's two. Mom, is Adrianna coming too?"

"I imagine so. Ginny is her aunt after all." As if on cue, a little girl with long dark hair with red highlights in it came running into the room.

"Grandma! Grandpa!"

"Oh, go to your Grandpa, I'm holding a baby," Molly said hurriedly before the little girl could jump on her. She instead ran over to Arthur and jumped into his lap and promptly burst into tears.

"Is Aunt Ginny going to be OK, Grandpa? I don't want her to die." He calmly hugged her and stroked her hair.

"Of course she's going to be fine, Adrianna." Charlie and his wife May Lei came walking into the room just then.

"Mum, have you heard anything yet?" Charlie asked. She again informed him that they hadn't heard anything. Charlie sighed and spotted Harry.

"Oh, James! I heard you were with her when it happened. What exactly did happen? We haven't got the full story." Harry proceeded in telling him about shopping in Flourish and Blotts and something exploding when they walked outside. About him being thrown back and when he found Ginny, she was already unconscious.

"Does anybody know what happened? How did the street just blow up? And I'm sorry, I don't think we've met before. I'm May Lei, Charlie's wife." May Lei said while offering her hand to Harry.

"I'm James Newark, I'm Ginny's boyfriend. Nice to meet you, May Lei." She was a very pretty woman. She was about the same age as Charlie, early thirties and she had long dark black hair to her elbows. Her eyes were just as dark but they had a twinkle in them that made her seem very friendly. She was also very short. She only went up to about four inches below Charlie's shoulder. "And I don't really know what happened. I haven't really been listening to the WWN or anything." Ron shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Harry turned to him.

"Do you happen to know anything about it, Ron?" he asked, somewhat forcefully.

"Yes, there was a message on an outside wall on one of the shops. Ollivander's, I think it was."

"Well..." Harry prompted. Ron looked at him nervously.

"It said, _'You will never get the chance to marry her, Newark or should we say, Potter?'_ We didn't catch anybody. We got there too late." Harry's face went completely white and he started shaking. He put his head in his hands.

"This can't be happening," he muttered.

"Um, Harry? Why would they say that you'll never get the chance to marry her?" Ron asked quietly so that nobody else could hear.

"Never mind that. They practically just announced to the world who I am," Harry hissed at his friend. "And not to mention practically killed Ginny; if she's not dead already." A sob racked his body and he buried his head in his hands again. He felt two comforting hands go on his back. One from Hermione and one from Ron. Harry abruptly stood up.

"Stupid bastards!" Harry yelled and then looked apologetically at Charlie and Mai Lei. "Sorry about that." Charlie shook his head.

"Adrianna has heard worse than that. I've recently brought her to work with me and the other Dragon Keepers have some foul mouths on them." Harry nodded and then started pacing the room.

"They are NOT going to ruin my life again. I'm not going to let them," he said angrily and then stormed out of the room. Ron and Hermione looked at each other worriedly while the others exchanged confused looks. Harry walked angrily to the room that the doctors had brought Ginny into. Just as he was about to knock on the swinging door, a doctor came out wiping his hands with a grim look on his face.

"How is she? Is she all right?"

"You're the one that brought Miss Weasley to us?" Harry nodded. "Is the rest of her family here?"

"Yes, they are in the waiting room still." The doctor motioned with his head to follow him to the waiting room. They walked to the waiting room and closed the door behind them. The Weasley's all looked up expectantly. Harry noticed that Bill and Fleur had arrived while he had been gone. Molly Weasley started to cry once she saw the grim look on the doctor's face.

"Miss Weasley has sustained a very serious injury to her head and multiple broken bones and some internal bleeding that came from her broken bones. We have managed to keep her alive and she is in better condition than we thought she would be in when we first saw her.

"The broken bones have already been mended and we will be keeping someone with her at all times to monitor that more internal bleeding doesn't take place. She lost quite a lot of blood so we had to give her some blood transfusions.

"As to the extent of her head injury, we won't really know until she wakes up. She could possibly have anything from minor memory loss, she won't remember little events or maybe a couple people she has just met or it could be more serious where she won't remember any of you, or anything from her life. There's also the possibility that she might never wake up." Harry sunk down into his chair with a sob.

"So...she could just be a vegetable for the rest of her life?" asked Ron.

"You could put it that way, yes. But it's just a possibility. She might be fine, although I doubt that there would be no problems at all. I would at least expect some sort of memory loss."

"When can we see her?" asked Charlie.

"As soon as we move her into another room that is going to be on the second floor for comatose patients. She'll be moved from there once she wakes up, possibly to the third floor. It depends on what her condition is. Why don't all of you make your way up there and then the I'm sure you'll be able to see her then."

"Thank you," said Molly softly. The whole Weasley clan started to get up and started to go up to the second floor. When they got there, they saw two nurses wheeling Ginny's bed into a room. Her mother started crying freely again when she caught sight of her. Hermione grabbed onto Ron and held on tightly. Harry stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the closed door.

Ginny had looked exactly like...death. There was no other way to put it. She was even paler than Ron had been when he had come bursting into the waiting room. She had a piece of cloth wrapped around her head and some blood had been seeping through. Harry had no idea how long he had been standing there but suddenly he felt someone take his arm and lead him into the waiting room that the rest of the Weasley's had already gone into. Harry looked at the person and saw that it was Ron. He sat Harry down next to Hermione who promptly took Harry into her arms and hugged him tightly and said soothing words into his ear.

"She'll wake up and she'll be fine. You two will get married and have so many little Harry and Ginny's running around your big house out in the country, somewhere outside London. Or maybe not. Wherever you want it to be. You'll play Quidditch until you get too old to play; then you'll teach your kids how to play when they are little. You'll have the perfect life. This is just a setback, honey. Just think about the future that you're going to have with her. You'll be so happy." They pulled out of their hug and smiled at each other.

"Thank you, Mione." She smiled and sat back in her chair. He also sat back in his chair with a loud sigh. Bill and Fleur then came and sat on the other side of Harry.

"You must be James. You're her boyfriend?" asked Bill.

"Yeah, James Newark. You're Bill and Fleur?" Bill definitely looked much different from the last time that Harry had seen him. He had cut his hair short and wore a much more sophisticated hair cut. He still had an earring in his ear but it was just a small silver stud. Fleur looked like she hadn't aged a day. She was still just as beautiful as Harry remembered her being. She still looked adoringly up at Bill every time she looked at him. Obviously him cutting his hair hadn't put her off him.

"Yes, this is my wife Fleur. How long have you and Ginny been dating?"

"Since the middle of August, a couple weeks after I moved here from LA."

"We have been listening to the WWN. They read off that message that was written on the wall of Ollivander's. What was all that about you not being able to marry her and the part where it said. 'or should we say, Potter?'"

"Well...I haven't really told anybody here yet, but I proposed to Ginny this morning, she said yes. But I just don't know how they could have found out so quickly about it."

"Who's they?"

"Er...Death Eaters."

"What? So are they onto something when they made that remark about Harry on the wall? And I thought the Death Eaters were wiped out."

"Well, most of them were. There are still some left. They've been threatening me for a couple months. Ever since the night Harry Jr. was born."

"I don't understand something. Why would they be going after you? Do you and Harry have some sort of connection or something? I mean, I read about it in the papers when Harry was kidnapped in October. Everybody said that they were rumours."

"Well...we do have a connection but I can't say right now. The less people that know, the better. It'll come out sooner or later."

"Does Ginny know?"

"Yes, she found out by accident but I had been planning on telling her anyway. If I hadn't, I certainly wouldn't have proposed to her this morning."

"And I'm guessing that these Death Eaters know the connection?"

"Yes, unfortunately, they do. I can't figure out how though. Everything I do, they know." Hermione jumped into the conversation.

"I know how they could have known that you were getting married. Well, they probably just figured. That article in Witch Weekly just came out in the new issue two days ago. You said in there that you were thinking about proposing to her but you hadn't had time to look for a ring. And I mean your life isn't exactly private. You're James Newark, famous Quidditch player for the Chudley Cannons."

"Yes, but that still doesn't explain some things that they have said in the letters they have sent to me. On the night you were giving birth, Hermione, they asked me about getting acquainted with the Weasley's. And then in the second letter, they told me to go out and speak with the reporters and then...bugger." He had said too much. He had been Harry at that time, not James. George had been listening into the conversation and his eyes had gone wide.

"Great wizards! Why didn't I see it before?" he yelled. "I know what the connection is!" Ron got up and pulled him out of the room, probably even more roughly than was needed. Harry figured that it was a good thing Bill hadn't been at the hospital the night Harry Jr. was born. Bill was looking at the door with a confused expression.

"What is all this about a connection?" asked Fred. Everybody else voiced their confusion.

"Oh um, it's nothing really. No big deal, just something George there just figured out and got a little overexcited about."

"This is going to bother me immensely until I figure it out. It's probably just sitting right under my nose, isn't it?" asked Bill. Harry smiled weakly.

"More or less." Ron popped his head into the waiting room.

"Mum, Dad, you can come see Ginny. Then whoever thinks they should go next, can go after them." Ron walked in, closely followed by George who was trying not to smile too broadly at Harry. Bill and Fleur decided to go to the cafeteria to get some dinner since it was approaching that time. George took the opportunity to sit down next to Harry. He immediately started whispering in his ear.

"So, _Harry._ Man, I can't believe I didn't figure it out before. I should have thought about it. I mean, the Cannons have got the most brilliant Seeker in the world and he just happens to play exactly like Harry Potter. You would think I would know after all the other times I've seen you play. So, it's true that you weren't on a broom for five years?"

"Yeah, hadn't played Quidditch since that one last time that I played Quidditch at the Burrow with you guys. That was what? A month before the final battle? I didn't want anything to do with the wizarding world for quite some time after that. I put my things in storage here in England until about three years ago. My wand was even in storage. When I came here and got it all, I had a horrible time just getting things to levitate. Of course, I still don't really need my wand."

"Oh yeah, you can do wandless magic, right?"

"Yeah, but I still didn't do any of that for two years. I had just as much of a hard time doing that as with my wand."

"What made you get all of your wizarding things then?"

"I wanted to see all my old pictures again. And when I started going through my things, I realised that I didn't want to leave it all behind again. By that time, I had this huge mansion in LA and had a room that I had nothing in, so I decided to put all of my wizarding things in there. It was a really handy room. It had a walk in closet that was absolutely huge. I used it for a potions room and made a bunch of different healing potions for when I got sick or happened to break any bones. There was also a small staircase in the potions room that led up to a small attic where I kept Hedwig." George nodded his head and sat in thought for a while.

"So...who found you then? Or did you just come back on your own?"

"Sirius found me. He scared the shit out of me when he came. First time I saw him, I almost choked on my drink. I ran from him then, I didn't want to speak with him. The second time was the next morning, I was cooking breakfast and then all of a sudden, he appears across from me. I swear I almost shit my pants. I still don't know how he got into my house. I just hope he wasn't there all night." He grimaced at the thought. George smirked.

"Why ever not? What were you doing?"

"Well, um I sort of had a girl over. She was a feisty one, telling me that I..." he looked over at Hermione who was listening. "Never mind.

"Anyway, Sirius then told me about the Chudley Cannons looking for me for like two years. I was a little reluctant at first, so I just decided that I didn't want to come back as myself but as the person that I had become while living in LA."

"Why didn't you want to come back as yourself?"

"Many reasons. I didn't want people asking me if I did kill Voldemort and then asking how I did it. I just thought I had no life here anymore. I mean, Ron and Hermione were angry with me and I thought that they would never listen to what I had to say..."

"Idiots," George scowled at Ron and Hermione.

"And everything that had happened, it was just all so overwhelming. I just needed to get away. I kind of figured that everybody would think I was dead. I thought it was better that way. I did tell Albus to tell Sirius that I was alive and whoever else might still care enough about me. But...then he was killed. I didn't find out until Sirius found me." Harry swallowed hard. "And plus, I just felt so dirty. After all the horrible things that I did to people in that battle. I can't even count on one hand the number of people I killed. Especially after I killed Voldemort," he shuddered violently. "I had nightmares about that for a couple years after. I still get them sometimes."

"You may have killed a lot of people but they were all Death Eaters. They deserved no less. And as for Voldemort, well I saw what you did to him, that was exactly what he deserved. Don't beat yourself up for it. You did the right thing by doing that to him." said George.

"I don't feel guilty killing him. He deserved it. The image of it. It's so horrible." Just then, Molly and Arthur walked in.

"James, everybody has decided that you should go in and see Ginny right now. Bill and Fleur were most insistent on it." She smiled kindly at him.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley."

"Call me Molly and you can call him Arthur. You go and see her now." Harry walked out and heard Molly telling the people in the waiting room what a nice man he was, so much like Harry. He heard George burst into laughter. Harry shook his head and continued walking to Ginny's room. When he got in, he saw her in the same exact position as when he saw her being wheeled into the room. He sat down on the edge of the bed and took her limp hand into his own and kissed it.

"Please come back to me, Ginny. I love you so much." A nurse walked in at that moment.

"Oh sorry, I just need to check that she's not bleeding still. I'll be back every fifteen minutes." She took out her wand and waved it over Ginny's body. A blue light emitted from her body and seeming to be satisfied, the nurse left again. Harry leaned down over her and kissed every part of her face. He sat with her for another fifteen minutes and after the nurse came and left again, he decided to give someone else the chance to see her. He gently kissed her on her slightly parted lips and walked out of the room.

"Oh can we go in now?" asked Mai Lei, who was just walking past with Charlie and their daughter.

"Yeah, I was going to get someone else to go in. The nurse will be in every fifteen minutes." Harry left for the waiting room to get Ron and Hermione to go to the cafeteria with him. It was going on eight o'clock and it had seemed so long ago that he had last eaten a celebratory lunch with Ginny. Visiting hours ended at half past nine and the only people allowed to stay was Molly and Arthur. So Harry left with Greg and Brian back to his empty house.

~*~*~

The next couple weeks were spent going to the hospital to see Ginny, going to practice and playing in the games. Harry's heart just wasn't in anything anymore with Ginny in the hospital. It felt like his whole world was crumbling apart again. The Ministry was giving the Aurors powers to do anything necessary to bring the Death Eaters in. Harry was also given these powers. So he could use the Unforgivables on them if he wanted. It was like deja vu. This had all happened when Voldemort was alive five years ago.

Christmas was fast approaching, but Harry was not looking forward to it at all. He was going to spend it at Sirius's flat with Sirius and Remus. He had told the Weasley's that he was going to America for Christmas Eve and Day and that he'd call on Christmas Eve and sometime during the day on Christmas to see if there had been any changes in Ginny's condition.

On the morning of the 22nd, Harry was half-heartedly finishing his shopping with Sirius. He was actually just starting his shopping. It was his first day off in a month and he hadn't had time since he had also been going to the hospital every day for many hours at a time.

Harry was really grateful to Sirius. He had been a big comfort to Harry ever since Ginny went into the hospital. The two were becoming closer than they had ever been before. Sirius used to be just like an older brother to him but now it seemed like he was more of his father/friend/brother. Harry liked that combination much better. Remus was also around a lot. They had gotten to know each other a lot. Remus was more like a friend/brother to him, much like how Ron was. Sirius and Harry were to meet up with Remus in the Leaky Cauldron around three in the afternoon to have some tea. They were walking up the road looking in the shop windows, looking for the last gift Harry had to buy. He was looking for a gift for Ginny.

"Harry, you could try to cheer up a little bit."

"Sirius, my fiancee is in the hospital at Christmas. I'm not in the mood to be cheerful. I don't know why I'm even looking for a gift for her."

"Because you love her and when she wakes up, you don't want to disappoint her with nothing. That's why."

"If she wakes up," Harry said glumly. Sirius whacked him upside the head. "Ow! That hurts."

"Don't ever speak like that again. I know it's hard to keep hoping that she'll wake up but you can't just give up. Imagine what would have happened if I had given up finding you..."

"Ginny wouldn't be in the hospital right now," Harry interrupted.

"Oh, so now you're blaming this on me?"

"I didn't say that. It's my fault for listening to you. I could have easily said no."

"It's not your fault either. And plus, you'd still probably be screwing around with a bunch of girls that mean squat to you and now you're engaged to be married to the girl of your dreams, literally your dreams, since the age of sixteen. I think that that is much better than a bunch of meaningless relationships."

"I guess it is. I've already resolved to become celibate if she never wakes up. I'll never have another woman for the rest of my life."

"So, you'll turn to men, then?" asked Sirius smiling.

"No, Sirius. I'm not going to become gay. Do you know what celibate means? And besides, I don't think people just wake up one morning and say right, I think I'll be gay from now on. I think it's more like something they already are."

"Yes, I do know what celibate mean and besides I was kidding. You're really serious, though aren't you?"

"No, I'm Harry."

"Shut up. That is the oldest joke and completely stupid."

"Remus said you didn't think so when you made it up."

"Yes, well I'm older and more mature now." Harry snorted. "I am," he said indignantly.

"Yeah, OK. I guess you are. At least from the stories I've heard of you, you have."

"Thank you, I told you I wasn't lying. So you didn't answer my question."

"Yes, I am serious about becoming celibate. Why would I want to even try being with another woman when the only woman I have ever thought about ever since I was sixteen is Ginny. Every one that I have ever been with, in my mind has been Ginny. I know that sounds sick and demented but I couldn't get her off my mind, ever. And I never will." They wandered into a jewellery store and started looking around. Harry finally decided to get a diamond ring for her. He wanted to get her a ring that he had bought, just to show her how much he loved her. Besides, he figured that a girl could never have enough diamond rings.

Sirius, Remus and Harry spent a quiet Christmas day together. They sat around the fireplace with cups of hot chocolate talking and looking at their new gifts that they had received. They had all gotten gifts from every Weasley, and they gave each other presents too. Harry had received gifts from his team-mates and Seamus and Dean. He felt kind of guilty because Molly and Arthur had bought him two gifts but they actually didn't know that since one of them was for James and one was for Harry. Sirius had joked around saying that he should change his name and live as two people so that he could get more presents on Christmas. Harry cooked the Christmas meal for them since Sirius and Remus had no idea what to even do in a kitchen.

"Honestly, guys. It isn't that hard to cook when you're using magic. I think you should learn. What do you eat?"

"Food," replied Remus.

"Right, probably not very good food."

"You're absolutely correct!" exclaimed Sirius. "I hope you can cook better than me. I burn everything."

"Don't worry, I am a very good cook."

"I'll only believe it when I taste it."

"Have a little faith, Remus," said Harry as he placed the food on the table. They all dug in and with a large mouthful, Sirius started to speak.

"Well, I can honestly say that your mother would be proud. She was always trying to get James to learn how to cook and when she did get him to, he was horrible. This is actually good."

"I told you; I'm a natural." Remus opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a head popping up in the fire. It was Molly Weasley. Harry ducked under the table since he didn't have his 'Harry' hair. He didn't want her recognising him.

"Sirius! Remus! I'm so glad I caught you and I'm also sorry to interrupt your meal. But I thought I would tell you that Ginny is awake. Is Harry there with you two?"

"Um, yes. He went to use the loo," lied Sirius.

"Well, if you want, you can come to the hospital. Ron and Hermione are contacting James for me since only they seem to know where he is all the time." She shook her head in thought. "There is something about him that I can't quite put my finger on. He is so much like Harry, it's unbelievable." Sirius was becoming uncomfortable.

"Yes, they are a lot alike. Well, I'll tell Harry and I'm sure he'll want to come and see her. We'll be there in a bit."

"OK, be sure Harry comes! I haven't seen him in a while." With that her head disappeared. Harry popped out from under the table to call Ron and Hermione.

"Ron and Hermione Weasley!" he called into the fire. Ron's head popped up.

"Harry, we were just going to call you. What do you want to do?"

"Just tell everybody that you can't get a hold of James. I'm coming as Harry right now, your mom wants to see me. I'll leave the hospital after a couple hours and then go back as James."

"All right. See you later, mate!" Ron's head disappeared and Harry jumped up and ran to the bathroom to change his hair and put on his glasses. Five minutes later, Harry, Sirius, and Remus had all Apparated outside St. Mungo's hospital. They rode the magical elevator up to the third floor and Harry was immediately pulled into a hug with Mrs. Weasley.

"Harry! I'm so glad you came! I haven't seen you here much at all."

"Yeah, it seems like every time I came, nobody else was here," he lied. "I've wanted to come more, but I've been busy."

"I understand, dear. Well, follow me, boys." The three followed Molly down three long hallways before they came to a closed door that Molly opened up. Sirius, Remus and Molly went in first. Harry followed in and couldn't see Ginny from behind the other three.

"Hi, Sirius, Remus. Is....is Harry with you?" a small voice asked that sounded almost close to tears when she asked about Harry. They didn't have a chance to reply when Harry pushed them aside and almost ran to her bed. He sat down on the edge of her bed and kissed her hand and held it. Harry almost felt like crying when he saw how pale and skinny she was looking. She had always been skinny but she looked almost sickly now. Ginny smiled weakly at him and then turned to the other three.

"Could I speak to him alone for a few minutes? I need to ask him something."

"Sure, honey. You two take all the time you need," replied her mother with a smile. The three walked out and quietly closed the door behind them. Harry was staring at her the entire time, not even taking notice of anything else.

"Harry, I'm not exactly clear on everything. My head feels so foggy, there are things that I remember and things that feel like dreams; like they never really happened at all. I was just wondering....if we are dating? I have these memories that come to me, of you using the name James or something, or maybe James is a person I've met before. And then just a little while ago something came to me. It was of you proposing to me, I don't know if it's true or not." Harry stared at her for a few moments with his mouth hanging open slightly. Ginny smiled a little and closed his mouth for him.

"They aren't true, are they? To tell the truth, I was hoping they would be and then when I saw you just now, I thought that maybe it was because of the feelings I got when I saw you walking to me. Now I've just made a fool of myself, haven't I?" Harry smiled sweetly at her and picked up her left hand and showed her the engagement ring.

"That looks pretty real, doesn't it? I did propose to you and you are my fiancee." He put his hand under her chin and lifted her face up. "And I love you more than anything else in this world." He kissed her and he felt her melt into him. After a few moments, they broke apart but didn't pull too far away from each other. Harry ran his hand through her long red hair and kissed her forehead and the tip of her nose.

"I'm so glad you're OK. I've been so worried."

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Who's James?" Harry laughed quietly.

"He's me. James Newark was the name I used while I went away for all those years. And when I came back, I still used it. Only certain people know who I really am. You do, Ron, Mione, George, Sirius, Remus, Seamus, Dean, Draco Malfoy and I think that's all."

"Well, when are you planning on telling my family? I mean, we're getting married...."

"I know. I was planning on it soon. Maybe at this picnic that Steve has put together in California in a couple weeks. Your whole family was planning on going if you were up."

"OK, that sounds good. Hopefully, I'll be out of the hospital by then. Steve....he's your friend from the States, right? Almost gave you away to that reporter from Witch Weekly?"

"Yeah, what an idiot," Harry laughed. "Do you remember everything?"

"No, my mum and dad were speaking my first time going to Hogwarts on the train and I can't remember. The doctor said I would remember eventually. And like I said before, some things feel like a dream. I'm just glad that you were real," she smiled brightly at him before wrapping him in a hug. He buried his face in her neck and kissed his way up to her ear lobe and nibbled on it. A small giggle escaped her throat that made Harry smile into her neck.

"I love you so much, Virginia Weasley."

"And I love you, too, Harry Potter."

A/N: Please review! Thanks so much to everybody who has already done so! And everybody thought that I would just kill Ginny off! Yeah right! :) I could never do that to Harry! Well, there's a happy chapter ending for you! It's just going to get Darker from here. **Next Chapter** I'm planning on having them going to Cali to have a picnic, just to celebrate Ginny's good health and for fun. And....let's just say that while I'm writing the next chapter or two, I might be crying cause it'll be sad. Come on! The whole story can't be happy! 


	9. Chapter Nine

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter. Don't sue me.

A/N: If you want to be emailed updates, please leave your email address in a review or write to me at mione2003@hotmail.com.

**Chapter Nine**

"Well, Mr. Potter....where is my Christmas present? Have you completely forgotten?"

"Oh!" Harry jumped up from his sitting place and dropped his newspaper in surprise. "Ginny! I didn't expect you today! I thought your family wanted you for a while."

"So you're not happy to see me?" she pouted.

"Of course I'm happy to see you. I'm always happy to see you," he said as he wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her face up to his and kissed her. Ginny pulled him over to where he had just been sitting on the couch, pushed him down and sat on his lap. They sat wrapped in the others arms for a while before Ginny spoke again.

"So, what about it? Where's my present, did you forget to buy it?"

"No, I didn't forget to get it, I just forgot to give it to you! Is that any better? I was just so excited about you waking up, I forgot all about it."

"Go get it, then. Maybe I'll give you yours afterwards. Depends on how good it is." Ginny grinned suggestively at him. Harry jumped up from the couch with her in his arms and then placed her back on the couch.

"Well, what are you holding me up for, woman? I want that present!" he exclaimed and ran up to his room.

It was a week later on New Year's Day. Ginny had just been released from the hospital two days earlier and she had just come over for a surprise visit, so that they could celebrate a late Christmas together.

Ginny sighed contentedly as she watched his retreating back.

"Men," she muttered under her breath before smiling to herself for finding such a great one. Harry came running back in the room with a small wrapped box in his hand.

"I do love you, you know that, Harry?" He stopped in his tracks and looked at her funny before smiling beatifically at her.

"I do know that. You know that I love you, Ginny?"

"Yes....OK, now hand it over." Harry rolled his eyes and handed the gift over. Ginny delicately unwrapped the dark blue wrapping paper.

"You need to learn how to open presents; you have to just rip them open! Where's the fun in what you're doing?" Harry laughed.

"I'm just making the moment go slower. I hope you don't just rip my present open of it's wrappings! It's fragile." She finished taking the paper off and opened the box and gasped at the contents.

"Harry! It's so beautiful!" she exclaimed as she slipped the ring onto her right ring finger. Harry shrugged.

"I figured you would like it."

"I love it," she breathed while looking at the ring. She came out of her trance and looked up at Harry. "Thank you."

"Your welcome. I would have gotten you something else to go along with it but I wasn't in the mood to shop that day."

"It's OK, Harry. It's enough....now, it's time for your present." Again the suggestive smile crossed her face. "I actually have a confession to make. I haven't had time to buy you a present, so this was all that was available. Remember, I'm still fragile." Harry grinned back at her.

"I promise to handle the contents with care," he whispered into her ear as he led her upstairs.

~*~*~

Another week past and soon it was the morning before the picnic. The Weasleys, Harry, Sirius, Remus, Draco Malfoy, Dean, Seamus, Steve, and of course Brian and Greg (they were coming along for Harry's protection) were all Flooing to Steve's house in LA. They were going a day early so as to get used to the time change a little so that it wouldn't make a difference when the actual picnic was held. The picnic would be held the next day at the big park that Harry showed off his flying skills to the Cannons. The day would start off at lunch and they would leave whenever they felt like it. Everybody was bringing brooms and Quidditch balls so they could get a game together. Weather wouldn't be a problem since the whole park was enchanted to be summer all year round. Not that it would really matter all that much since they would be in California.

Harry was just getting some food to bring along when Sirius came walking into his kitchen.

"Good evening, Harry, dear!" Sirius said cheerfully. Harry shook his head.

"Good evening. You want to give me a hand with this stuff?" he asked grumpily.

"Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"This food was just a lot of hassle. And I still have to cook it before we eat it for lunch at the picnic."

"Why didn't you make something a little easier then?"

"Molly told me to make it for her. She's making the majority of the food. I offered to do some, I felt sorry for her."

"_And_ you're trying to get on the good side of the future in-laws," Sirius smiled.

"I'm already on the good side of the in-laws. Hopefully, I still will be once I tell them the truth about me."

"Don't worry. This is the Weasley's we're talking about here. They love you," Sirius assured him as he picked up a bowl of taco salad. (A/N: Please excuse my American ignorance. I don't know if the British eat taco salad. I know that they have some different food than Americans, so let's just pretend everybody eats all the same kind of food. I only used taco salad because I'm really craving it right now! :) Sometimes, I wish school taught me more about the culture instead of the history)

"Do you have all of your things packed and ready to go?"

"Yes, father."

"Only checking. No need to get sarcastic."

"I was just joking. Yes, I do have it ready." He ran up to his room and grabbed his bag and slung it over his back. Once he got back downstairs, he grabbed a couple bowls and plates of food and called to Sirius, Greg and Brian.

"Come on guys, let's Apparate over to the Weasley's. I want to see if they need any help before we Floo to Steve's." The four walked out of the house and past the anti-Apparition barrier and reappeared in front of the Weasley's house. It was complete chaos inside. The entire Weasley family, including all the in-laws and grandchildren were hurrying about. With the exception of Harry Jr. who was still only three months old.

"Molly, do you need any help?" yelled Harry over all the commotion.

"Oh, James...I don't think so. I've got so many hands here already. I was just about ready to Floo over to Steve's."

"OK, well, I'll head there now so I can get out of everybody's way." He pushed his way through everybody to get to the fireplace. A couple minutes later, he toppled out of Steve's large living room fireplace.

"Why hello, James! I was wondering when you'd start arriving!" exclaimed Steve from the couch. "I did get the name right this time, right?" he asked cautiously. Harry laughed.

"Yes, you did. And let's keep it at James until I tell everybody, OK?"

"Can do!" he exclaimed.

"What time is it here?"

"Eleven AM," Steve replied promptly.

"Oh man, it's going to be a long day. I might be in for a nap soon. It was just seven in the evening." At that moment, Harry was tackled to the floor.

"What the..."

"You idiot! How long have you been a wizard again?" exclaimed the person who was on top of him.

"Too long, I expect for this situation. What'd I do wrong?" He rolled out from under the person's heavy weight and saw Sirius scowling at him.

"When you get through the fireplace, you're supposed to MOVE out of the way! Not just stand there and hope to be knocked over by the next person who comes through."

"Oh," said Harry sheepishly. "I knew that."

"Could have fooled me," he replied angrily and then grunted in pain as another person fell on top of them.

"We're going to be killed if we stay here too long," said Harry smiling down at the new arrival.

"Do you have a death wish, Potter?" asked Draco Malfoy testily.

"Temper, temper, Draco. I suggest we get out of the way before we add to this dog pile. Oh sorry, Sirius, didn't mean anything by it." Harry got up and pulled them both to safety just as Remus came through.

"And _Malfoy,_ it's Newark to you. Don't forget it!"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot the Weasley's don't know." He started looking around the room they were in.

"How ever are you going to survive a night in a Muggle home, Draco? I never thought I'd see the day when I'd see you in one."

"Shut up. I've stayed in a Muggle home before." Harry goggled at him.

"Yeah, OK and my name is Marilyn Monroe."

"Is that the new name you're going by now?" Draco asked smirking. Harry scowled.

"No, of course not, you prat."

"Well, how am I supposed to know? I mean, you've got so many names, it's hard to keep track," he replied innocently.

"Shut up. Quit being such a moron. Who's house did you stay in then that was a Muggle?"

"I....uh, well, I had a girlfriend who was a Muggle." Now it was Sirius, Remus and Ron, who had just come through the fireplace to stare open mouthed at him along with Harry.

"Muggle girlfriend? Malfoy, when are you going to stop surprising us?" Harry asked incredulously. "How long did that last?" Draco started shifting uncomfortably.

"For a while. I met her the summer before fifth year, and we didn't start dating until the next summer."

"Did she know that you're a wizard?"

"Yes, her uncle was a friend of my mother's and he was a wizard."

"Well, how long did you date her?" asked Ron, who had just managed to close his mouth.

"Er...um.....until my father found out, a couple days after Voldemort was killed."

"You stopped dating her just because he found out?" asked Sirius surprised.

"I didn't really have a choice," he said angrily. "Look, I really don't want to talk about it right now," he said uncomfortably as he looked at the mass of people who were starting to congregate in the large room and were listening in. Everybody backed off and went about their business but Harry resolved to speak to him about it. He seemed upset about it still. He wondered what Lucius could have done to make him have no choice. It wasn't like Draco had ever listened to his father before that.

After everybody was settled into their rooms, Steve went about making everybody lunch. They were seated around the large dining room table eating away. By the time Harry had had his fill, he noticed Draco move out of the room, unnoticed by anybody besides Harry. Draco had been extremely quiet since he spoke of his Muggle girlfriend. Harry quickly excused himself and hurried after him. He found Draco in the room with the fireplace, reading a Muggle newspaper.

"Draco," he said quietly.

"James," Draco said even more quietly.

"What happened?" Draco looked up at him questioningly.

"Well, I was full, so I got up and left."

"That's not what I meant and you know it....what did your father do?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, _Newark_," he replied almost condescendingly.

"Have you ever spoken about it? I don't mean to sound like your psychiatrist or anything but...you know it does help."

"Oh and you would know so well. Mr. I Don't Want To Come Back As Myself Because I Don't Want To Talk About It."

"That doesn't mean that I haven't spoken about it at all with anybody."

"You haven't told anybody jack shit. I know, I've asked around. Yeah, you did tell them that you killed Voldemort but nobody actually knows anything about what happened. All anybody knows are the rumours." Harry sighed in exasperation.

"I didn't come in here to talk about me, Draco."

"Well, it comes back to you because I'm trying to show you what a scared little hypocrite you are."

"I may be a hypocrite, but I'm not scared to talk about it. I just choose not to for now. My story would most definitely be hard on people. I choose not to burden people with it for now. Especially those I care about. They would worry even more than they already do."

"Always the noble Gryffindor, aren't you?"

"Always the stinking Slytherin, aren't you?" Draco cracked the smallest of smiles.

"I guess so. You know..." he said thoughtfully. "I really started to resent being in Slytherin during sixth year. I actually considered trying to be re-sorted. But my father....well, you can just imagine that I probably wouldn't be here right now if I had tried that one."

"And what about your Muggle girlfriend? Would she be here right now if your father wouldn't have found out about the two of you?" Draco looked down at his hands for a while before answering.

"I'd like to think so."

"What happened?"

"Can't you guess?"

"I have an idea but I would like to hear the truth about it before I assume anything." Draco took what was probably supposed to be a calming breath but it came out choked and jagged.

"Rebecca and I decided to never tell him about us. I knew it would be too dangerous, I knew what Lucius thought about Muggles. He always tried putting the same ideas into my head since I was a child. I believed him for the longest time. But then, mother introduced me to her Rebecca's uncle Rick, who is a Muggle-born. Of course, mother never told Lucius that. He would have been furious with her for befriending a Muggle-born. Rick introduced me to Rebecca during my birthday party after fourth year. She was only there because Lucius was on some business for Voldemort.

"She was so beautiful. I think that was my turning moment. I didn't care that she was a Muggle or not, I just knew that I wanted her and if it meant defying my father, than so be it. I had already been considering it anyway, I had had a conversation with Dumbledore before I left school that year about my safety. I hadn't been sure if I wanted to be a Death Eater. He told me that if I needed to get away from home, that I was welcome to go to Hogwarts for the summer. But by the time my birthday rolled around, I was actually considering becoming a Death Eater. My father promised me an initiation a week after my party. But I changed my mind when I met her.

"Needless to say, Lucius was furious that I changed my mind. I spent two weeks in the torture chamber for that. He said it was for the pain that he was going to have to endure for my stupidity. When I got out, Rebecca helped my mother nurse me back to health. She even learned how to make healing potions for me, which is no easy task for a Muggle." He smiled indulgently. "She was always good at cooking things though so I guess that potions was almost the same. When I got better, I acted like such a stupid prat around her. I couldn't string together one sentence. I was stuttering all the time, it really wears on one's nerves...."

"I can't believe it, you lost your cool? You, stuttering?" Harry teased. "I would have loved to see that back then."

"Shut up, you would have to, if you would have seen her. Knowing how you always were around Cho and then Ginny."

"How'd you know I liked either one of them?"

"It was only obvious," he said disdainfully. "Every time I caught sight of you at the Yule Ball in fourth year, you were staring daggers at Diggory and making puppy eyes at Cho. You did the same with Ginny the next year and the year after that. Although you were also busy with Parvati Patil."

"You sure did watch me a lot."

"Oh please, don't flatter yourself. Anybody with eyes could have seen it. So, what did happen between you and Patil?" Draco grinned suggestively.

"I think we're getting off the subject here."

"Yeah, OK. Getting nervous, are we?" he shook his head and laughed. "I don't blame you. She wasn't bad on the eyes, I wouldn't say no to her sister either."

"Well, that makes sense since they are IDENTICAL. So...go on with your story."

"Right. I wasn't really able to get my tongue back around Rebecca until the next summer. I finally asked her out...we had to go out in the Muggle world since it would be dangerous in the wizarding world. We ended up spending quite a bit of time there and she showed me all these Muggle things like televisions and computers. Muggles are more intelligent than wizards give them credit for. They have a lot of ways to get by without magic. By the time I got out of Hogwarts, I was a regular expert on Muggles. I couldn't say anything about it to Slytherins in case it got around to my father. It infuriated me how ignorant wizards can be about them. So it was hard to keep up my Muggle hating facade when they would make fun of Muggle-borns and Muggles. I really started to hate calling Hermione a Mudblood but it was part of the act. You know that I wanted to be your friend, but I couldn't be and plus you wouldn't have wanted to be.

"You have no idea how happy I was when you killed Voldemort. I had information on Lucius that I was going to give to the Ministry and he would be locked up and Rebecca and I would be safe. I had already proposed to her and we were going to get married in June of the next year if everything went as planned. Two days after Voldemort's downfall and your disappearance, I planned on going to the Ministry with my information. I was stopped by Lucius. He was furious with me. At first I didn't know why, but then he started ranting and raving about Muggles and how could I be so irresponsible as to date a Muggle. 'You'll ruin the good name of Malfoy and dirty up the blood if you marry that little whore!' He started asking where she lived so that he could go and deal with her himself. Of course I didn't tell him. I wasn't stupid.

"I didn't like to think so though. If I would have been a bit smarter though, I wouldn't have gone to see her for a while. But I decided to wait to go to the Ministry that day after speaking Lucius. Instead, I waited until I thought Lucius had gone into hiding since the Ministry was looking for him, and I Apparated to Rebecca's flat. I really didn't know...he had put a tracking charm on me when I had my back turned. He followed me to her place; when he showed up, I told her to leave. We had had the fireplace connected to the Floo network just in case something happened. Severus offered to be her safe house if anything happened. Lucius had been thinking ahead though and destroyed the vase on the mantle that had the Floo powder in it. He did it just before he walked into the kitchen. We heard it break in the street but didn't think anything of it.

"We had a really big row when he came into the kitchen. I tried to disarm him, curse him, putting the full body bind on him. I was never any good at duelling with him. He disarmed me first and then...." a small sob escaped his throat. Harry didn't know quite what to say or do. He never thought that he would be in this position with Draco Malfoy of all people. Harry decided to just wait in case he broke down completely. He looked ready to.

"He put the Cruciatus on me with my own wand. Then he did the same with his wand to Rebecca. I couldn't even help her. I tried to overcome the pain but it was too much. There was too much anger put into the curse. I'm not sure how long he had the curse on us. But he finally took it off...I couldn't move, I felt completely paralysed. I tried to reach out for Rebecca, she was still convulsing from the pain, and she was crying. Lucius started to speak to me again. I knew what he was going to do before he even said it. 'You know this is for your own good, Draco. I can't have you dirtying the bloodline like this. You'd be a disgrace, I'd have to disown you and that has never happened in the Malfoy family. I don't want to be the first, it would start a horrible trend.'

"I begged with him, though I knew it wouldn't do any good. He had his mind made up, he didn't care how I felt about it all....he told me to take one last look at her while she was alive. I tried to move closer to her so I could shield her but it was all so slow. It hurt so bad. She was so calm and brave. I....I had started to cry knowing that I would lose her. I was so scared to live without her, I was scared for her. She actually found it in her to smile at me. She told me not to be scared because she wasn't and that she loved me. I only just managed to say it back right before he killed her......I hope she heard it." A single tear ran down his face and Harry found himself ready to shed a couple tears for Draco Malfoy. He put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure she did, Draco."

"Please," he said in a voice choked with tears and frustration. "I...I don't need your pity."

"You really don't have many good friends, do you, Draco? I'm not here to give you my pity. I'm here to be your friend, that's all. This is what friends do. They help each other out." Draco was silent for a long time before he spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Thank you, Harry."

~*~*~

The next day was really hectic in Steve's mansion. There were twenty-two people running about, getting things together and cooking the things that needed to be cooked still. By eleven in the morning, everybody was lining up in front of the fireplace, waiting their turn to Floo to the Muggle gym. Harry was the first one through since he knew what to do. Once through the fireplace, he waited for a couple more people before going through the solid brick wall.

The park was lit by bright sunlight and shone on Harry's face. He turned his head upwards and took it all in. The warmth felt really good when he compared it to the cold weather back home in England.

"Come on, James. Plenty of time for that in a little bit. We need to get this food set up so we can eat lunch," said Molly with a cheerful smile.

"I know. I just really miss this nice weather. It's always raining in England, I miss the sun."

"Ah, yes, I forgot you lived here. It must have been nice."

"It was, I still miss it a little, but nothing compares to home. I don't think anything can compare to the place you were born."

"You weren't born in the U.S.?"

"Oh....no, actually I wasn't. I was born in Wales." Molly was thankfully interrupted by Arthur coming up behind her and speaking to her. He wanted to avoid all awkward situations until it was the time to say something. Arthur, Molly and Harry chose a spot about twenty yards away from a large cluster of trees. They levitated five picnic tables into the area and set the food up on one, the rest would be used for them to sit and eat. By the time they were done with that task, everybody was already in the park and congregating in the area and talking and laughing merrily with one another. After ten minutes, Molly called everybody over to line up for the food. Harry went to the end behind Draco and Sirius behind Harry.

"How about a game of Quidditch after we eat, everybody?" yelled Ron from the front of the line. There was a chorus of agreement.

"I'm on James and Draco's team, no matter what!" yelled Ron after the commotion died down.

"Yeah, take the two professionals. That's really fair," grumbled Bill.

"I think Draco and I should probably just be on opposite teams. Besides Ron, what's wrong with having Charlie as your Seeker? He's probably better than I am," Harry said honestly. Charlie burst out laughing.

"That's nice of you to say, James. But I really think that you have got more talent than I do. And how do you even know that I'm a Seeker?"

"Oh...Ron told me a while ago. Besides, it's the truth. I have never seen you play, but I've heard stories about you. You could have played professional Quidditch if you had wanted to." Everybody chorused their agreement to that; Charlie's ears turned red. Harry looked up and saw Ginny across from him, (they were in two lines on both sides of the picnic table.) she was smiling at him appreciatively. He smiled and winked at her, and she wiggled her eyebrow at him before moving to sit down at a table with her food and butterbeer. Harry and Sirius were the only two left getting their food. Sirius put a hand on his shoulder and leaned in closer to him.

"I don't think that I could be any prouder of you if I tried." Harry looked at him surprised.

"Why, I didn't do anything?" Sirius smiled and shook his head.

"You're too modest, just like your father. It's what you do everyday, Harry. You're just a great person; I couldn't have asked for a better godson."

"Yeah, you could have. If I were any good, I wouldn't have just left you to wonder where I was for five years. I know I told Albus, but I should have told you, but I was a damn coward. I'll never forgive myself for that; I never knew my father and you're the only father figure I've ever known, I should have told you...hell, as far as I'm concerned, Sirius....you are my father." Sirius let out a breath and Harry could see unshed tears in his eyes. Sirius set his plate down and then Harry's and embraced him in a tight hug.

"Harry, don't beat yourself up for it. I don't care anymore what happened. You're here now, and that's all that matters. Besides, I completely understand why you left and why you didn't tell me to my face....if anybody should be sorry, it's me."

"Why? What did you do?"

"I persuaded you to come back and I know you blame yourself for all that has happened."

"It would have happened anyway, they would have found me, just like you did. You did nothing wrong. All you did was look for me and I am very grateful that you found me. You have no idea how glad I am to be back among all my friends and family again, Sirius. When I saw you in that bar...well, I'm not going to lie, I did panic but a part of me was so damned relieved. I could stop hiding from at least one person and if I could have chosen anybody at the time not to hide from, it would have been you."

"You sure didn't act at all happy to see me," Sirius said with a smile.

"I was, you have no idea. All that time I was hiding, I kept thinking that nobody really wanted to find me. As time went on, it just felt like nobody cared so I just convinced myself to stay away, that and the fact that I didn't want to talk about anything made it all very easy to stay here in LA. That's one reason I was relieved to see you. You cared enough to keep looking for me even after all that time."

"Of course I kept looking for you! I can't believe you even thought otherwise. I have no idea what would have made you think that. You and Remus are the two most important people in my life. I wouldn't give up just like that...."

"Um...sorry to interrupt you guys, but everybody is wondering why you two were hugging and so I think you should get your food and come and sit down," said Draco who was muttering out of the corner of his mouth while re-piling his plate with food.

"Right, I forgot how hungry I am," smiled Sirius. They continued with piling their plates and finally sat down to devour it all. Thirty minutes later, everybody was getting up to get the teams together.

"OK, who are the captains going to be?" asked Fred.

"I vote that James and Draco are!" exclaimed Angelina. Both of them stepped back.

"No, I don't think so," they replied at the same time.

"You two are the captains. Makes sense, you're professionals," said George.

"I don't want to pick the people," complained Draco. Harry sighed resigned to being the Captain of his team.

"Well...let's just draw names. Everybody who is playing, write your name and position on a piece of parchment and put it in...put it in this empty chip bowl. Draco will draw first for his team." There was a mad rush for parchment and when nobody could find any, they had to resort to transfiguring leaves from the trees to parchment. Luckily, Steve had a normal Muggle pen with him.

When all the names were in the bowl, Draco started drawing.

"Charlie, you're my Seeker....Angelina, you're a Chaser....Fred, Beater....Hermione, you're my last Chaser...Ron, you're the Keeper. And you'd better still be as good as you were at Hogwarts."

"I'm better," joked Ron.

"Egotistical bastard," Draco muttered under his breath with a smile while he pulled his last name out of the bowl. "Katie, no that won't do. I have all my Chasers already." He rummaged around the bowl for a bit more and came up with Dean's name for his second Beater.

"OK, my team then is Seamus as Keeper, Bill, Katie, Ginny, you're the Chasers, George, you're a Beater. Um...I need another Beater. We're short one." Harry scanned the rest of the people watching and his eyes landed on Sirius. He grinned devilishly at him.

"Oh no, James. I am not playing with you."

"Yeah, you are. I've heard you were a great Beater in school."

"I haven't played in years, I'd be terrible."

"Sirius, I never play Quidditch and I'm terrible at flying," Hermione pointed out. "You'll be better than me by a long shot. I'm sure you'll do wonderful."

"Go on, Padfoot. We were just flying a couple weeks ago and you seemed to be in tip top shape then. And...you really _were_ a great Beater in school." Sirius scowled.

"Shut up, Moony. I only played because James made me."

"And you loved Quidditch."

"Yes, I did and I do..."

"So, what's the problem?" yelled Harry.

"I haven't played in a long time. In fact....the last time I played, it was with James, right before him and Lily were put under the Fidelius charm." Harry walked to him and stood in front of him.

"Would it bother you too much to play then? Because I'm sure Remus will always play..." he grinned at Remus, who backed away quickly.

"No way," he stated firmly. "I have never been any good at Quidditch."

"Well, then...I'll just ask somebody else..."

"No...don't bother. I'll play with you." Harry smiled broadly at Sirius.

"I knew you'd come around." Harry studied his face for a moment. "Are you OK?"

"What? Oh...yeah. I'm fine, I was just thinking."

"All right, well everybody, let's play some Quidditch!" yelled Harry.

The game turned out to be pretty evenly matched in skill. The only people who didn't really know what they were doing was Hermione and Dean. They were the only people who hadn't played for the house team at Hogwarts. Harry was happy with the fact that he had gotten Sirius on his team because he was pretty brutal with the bludgers. They had them charmed so that they didn't hurt when they hit the person, but they would knock you around a bit. The game went on for a little over an hour and the score was 130-100, Draco's team in the lead, which had been called the Snakes and Harry's the Gryffin's.

Charlie had actually seen the Snitch first because Harry had been staring at Ginny. He had been admiring the way she so gracefully moved through the air on her broom. It was a problem that he would never quite overcome, it had been quite a big problem during Hogwarts when she became a Chaser in Harry's sixth year. He had given a game up to Ravenclaw because of it. When Charlie rushed past him, he came back to his senses and raced after him. Harry managed to side-track him and let the Snitch get away. Charlie scowled at him while Harry smiled triumphantly.

Five minutes later, Harry caught sight of the Snitch again and raced after it with Charlie on his tail. Harry, of course had the better broom since his was given to him from the Cannons. Within seconds, Harry had come off with another spectacular catch and zoomed around the field to his team.

"I knew I didn't have a chance against you, James," laughed Charlie when they had gotten to the ground.

"You almost got to it the first time you saw it. If I wouldn't have stopped you, you would have gotten it. I wouldn't have had a chance otherwise."

"Well, that's because you were staring at Ginny," Charlie laughed while Harry turned a light shade of red.

"Yes, I have a problem doing that while playing Quidditch," muttered Harry. Ron heard him and dropped his mouth.

"That's what that was in sixth year then, when we lost to Ravenclaw. You said that someone had been distracting you and that it was a player, not a person in the stands. I had thought that it was Cho."

"No, it was Ginny," Harry smiled. Hermione laughed at Harry, who was the only one listening into their conversation.

"You should have just asked her out then. She would have said yes."

"I know, but I was stupid. So, let's drop it." Ron continued to give him a hard time until they neared Ginny, who threw her arms around Harry's neck.

"You're too damn beautiful to be let on a broomstick, you know that, Gin?" he asked into her hair.

"Is that why I saw you almost give the Snitch up to Charlie?"

"Yes, I couldn't stop watching you." Ginny smiled broadly and kissed him thoroughly.

"Get a room!" yelled one of the twins and threw a chip at them. Angelina hit him so Harry guessed that it was Fred.

"Let them do what they want! They are adorable together."

The rest of the afternoon was spent talking to each other all around. Harry spent most of the time under a tree with Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Harry Jr. Steve had gone home for a couple minutes to get a Frisbee so that he could teach the others how to play. The four friends laughed in amusement as Fred went flying into a thorny bush for the third time. By the time the large group was done playing Frisbee, Fred had gone into the bush a total of eight times. The rest had grass stains all over their clothes from skidding on the ground. All of them found the little Muggle disc to be a lot of fun and all vowed to get one so that they could play during the summer at the Burrow.

Dinner was served at 5:30. Harry was seated at the end of the picnic table next to Ginny with his back facing the trees behind him. Sirius sat across from him and the whole group was actually talking about the same subject for once. Harry looked at Molly a little way along the table and saw her brow knit in concentration.

"Why isn't Harry here? I know I invited him," she burst out all of a sudden. She looked visibly upset. Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Sirius all exchanged glances. Ginny and Ron nodded their heads at Harry as a go ahead. Molly took the gesture as a sign that something bad had happened to him.

"Oh dear, what has he gotten himself into this time? All my hair will be grey by the time he stops worrying me. I think I might be dead before that happens," she added as an afterthought.

"Actually, Molly, he's quite all right. And I'm sorry that I wor..." Harry trailed off as he saw Sirius get up and stand next to the edge of the table looking into the trees intently. It was already starting to get dark since it was January and Sirius was squinting to see whatever he was seeing, better.

"Sirius? What is it?"

"Quiet!" he hissed. The entire table went quiet under his order. Harry got up and looked to where Sirius was looking.

"Just sit down, I'll be right back." He transformed into his dog form and hurried away into the trees.

"What's his problem?" asked Steve. Harry shook his head in confusion.

"I have no idea. I have a feeling that something is there. His dog senses can come through when he is a human. Any Animagus's form can come through to the human. He probably sensed or smelled something there..." Harry watched the area where Sirius disappeared in silence. "Come on, Sirius," Harry muttered under his breath. Ginny took his hand and held it tightly. Ten long minutes had passed when the large group could make out Sirius big dog form racing back to the picnic area. Arthur conjured up flames in mid-air to light the rapidly darkening area. Sirius transformed back just as he reached Harry. He was out of breath from running and crouched over and pointed to the woods.

"There's...there's..." A bright flash of blue light illuminated the area and Sirius immediately jumped in front of Harry and wrapped his arms around him so that Harry's arms were pinned to his sides. Harry looked into Sirius's face.

"Sirius, what are you doing? What's going on?" Sirius didn't get a chance to answer before his body started to convulse and dropped to the ground. He clutched his chest and started gasping for breath and tried to speak at the same time. Harry dropped down to his knees beside him as a bright yellow shield went up over all the picnic tables, held up by Greg and Brian.

"Harry...Harry, please. Promise...you'll tell everybody who you are, not just....the Weasley's. Everybody."

"Sirius, oh god, what's happened? _Finite Incantatem,"_ he muttered under his breath. Nothing changed.

"Promise me!"

"I promise, I will, Sirius. I promise. But you'll be OK. You're talking like you're not going to make it. What did they do? Just please keep fighting, please," Harry begged.

"Harry, you know that you're....the son I've never had. Ever since I've gotten to know you in your third year, I've loved you like my own. You and Remus, you're my family. My only family left..." Sirius cried out in pain again and sweat started to bead up all over his face.

"Always....remember that, Harry. Your father would be proud, I'm proud of you." Sirius grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard but it was slowly losing it's strength.

"No, no, Sirius. Keep fighting."

"I can't, Harry. This curse keeps going until you're dead." A loud sob escaped Harry's throat as he heard him say those words.

"No, you can't die," he laid his forehead on Sirius's shoulder. "Please, I need you still. I love you, please, no."

"I know. You'll be.....fine. Moony's still here, your parents and I will watch over you. You'll watch out for each other."

"We will," said a quiet voice that was choked with tears behind Harry. Harry didn't need to look up to know that it was Remus. Remus went to the other side of Sirius and kneeled down beside him.

"I always thought I would be first to go. Me being the werewolf and all," he said mournfully. Sirius gave him a weak smile.

"You were always the strongest one though. Moony, thank you for being my friend." Remus smiled at him.

"Thank you for being mine, Padfoot. It meant a lot, it really did." Sirius turned his attention back to Harry.

"Thank you for believing me when I told you I didn't turn your parents over to Voldemort. You saved my life and I just paid you back."

"You didn't have to," Harry choked out.

"I did, I wouldn't have been doing my job as your godfather and guardian if I hadn't. Harry....stay alive, marry Ginny, have kids. Live your life, but please...live it as Harry."

"I will, I promise, Sirius." Sirius reached up and ruffled his hair.

"Good." His hand fell down to his side and he was still. Silent tears ran down Harry's face as he ran his hand over Sirius's eyes, closing them for the last time. His head fell down onto Sirius's chest and he cried openly onto his shirt. After a few minutes, gentle hands started to lift him up off of his godfather's body. He shrugged them off and kneeled by his body and stared at him. The anger began to build inside him. His blood began to boil and run through his body in great fast spurts.

"Harry?" Ginny whispered. "Maybe you should get up and we should take him back to London. Harry closed his eyes tightly and then opened them and looked at Ginny. She gasped and leaned back into Ron, who had the same look on his face as Ginny. Fear, apprehension and worry were all there.

"Harry, I know that look. Don't do anything, stupid," Ron said quietly.

"Don't do anything stupid, you say," he laughed bitterly. "What would you say is stupid? Killing a bunch of Death Eaters who just killed the only man that I knew as a father?"

"You don't know that it was Death Eaters."

"Oh, please, who else? I was recently kidnapped by them and they are sending me threats. I'm going into those woods, and nobody can stop me. They are still there, waiting for me to come out."

"Exactly! You'll be killed."

"It's a chance that I'm going to take, Ron."

"What about Ginny?"

"I'm coming back. Have the Death Eaters ever killed me before? No. I'm here and I always will be here, damn it." Harry walked around Sirius's body and walked toward the yellow shield that was up.

"We're not putting down the shield," said Brian. "We can't risk letting you out." Harry turned around angrily, the magic radiating off of him.

"That damn shield is not going to stop me, Brian! Do you actually think I can't get past it?"

"Nobody can get past it," Greg stated simply.

"OK," replied Harry. He turned on his heel and walked through it. Everybody gasped as he got through and promptly turned invisible.

"But...nobody has ever been able to get through that shield. Especially with two people holding it up," said Brian dumbfounded.

"Harry isn't an ordinary wizard, Brian," replied Ron, who wasn't surprised at all.

"He is Harry?" asked Mrs. Weasley. "I didn't think Sirius knew what he was talking about."

"Didn't you see his eyes, mum?"

"Yeah, they were glowing, green. I didn't even think."

"I haven't seen him that angry in a long time," said Hermione shakily. "I always hated seeing him like that."

"I don't understand. Why were his eyes glowing? That was the scariest thing I've ever seen. And I've seen it happen before."

"They glow when he gets angry. I don't really know why, they didn't start doing that until our seventh year. And something has to really set him off to do that. His powers also become well, even more powerful. That's why he could walk through it. His body is like it's not there. He can even walk through walls when angry enough. You say you've seen it happen before?"

"Yeah, in the first couple months that I knew him. He had been reading the newspaper and now that I think about it, the pictures were moving. So it was probably the wizarding newspaper. I thought I had imagined it. But after he read something, he started swearing and throwing things around. His eyes started to glow, but he said that they were glow in the dark contacts. I believed him since it was pretty dark in the room at the time."

"Do you know what the article was about?"

"Um, I think I heard him mumbling about fudge and it's idiocy. And then something about Voldemort, I didn't know what that was until I found out about him being a wizard. And something about so-called friends not believing anything he says, oh and um....well, he said that he would never talk to one more red-head in his entire life. Especially one's named Ron." Steve grimaced. "Sorry, but I think he was just angry at the time." Ron shook his head.

"I deserved it...."

"What are those things flying towards us?" asked Ginny suddenly.

"They look like wands or sticks," said Mai Lei curiously. They suddenly stopped in mid-air and snapped in half. Sparks of all different colours emitted from them and then they dropped to the ground.

"They were wands, definitely. I'm guessing Harry is right there," said Charlie. A hawk appeared where the wands had been broken and took off into the trees. The entire group was watching silently, nervously, waiting for Harry to return. Bright flashes of light emitted from the trees. Two flashes of green light. Ginny gasped and fell into Ron's arms.

"Oh please, oh please, let him be all right," she sobbed into Ron's shoulder.

"I should go out and help him. We always did things together when we were aurors."

"No, Ron. I know you want to help, but you need to let him do this, he'd probably get angry with you. And plus, I don't want you risking your life tonight. You do that too often," said Hermione through tears.

"Oh look! There's something coming towards us!" exclaimed Katie Bell. In the darkness they could see dark forms floating in the air towards them. They all counted seven and then one walking behind them. When they came into the light, they could see Harry guiding seven Death Eaters in the air. All of which were tied up, two were dead and the rest were stunned.

"Take the shield down, Brian. There aren't any more out there. The rest of them Apparated but I snapped their wands anyway, so it's safe." Reluctantly, Brian and Greg let it down and Harry dropped the bodies drop to the ground very roughly. One he kept in the air and he walked up to it and grabbed him.

"Are you still awake? Good, I want you to see what you've done." He guided the stiff body over to Sirius and put him above him. "This is what you've done, you bastard. You've killed two of your best friends! Have you no conscience at all? Was Remus next on your list? When was it going to stop? When you were the last Marauder left?" The man started squealing in the back of his throat.

"Oh just keep squealing, you little rat. You won't get any mercy from me this time." He threw Wormtail down on the ground as hard as he could. The rat like man squealed in pain. Harry just looked onto him in disgust. He then turned and looked down at Sirius's still form. His grief started to wash over him again and as everybody watched him, they saw that his eyes started to go back to normal. Ron just managed to catch him before he fell to the ground in a mess. Harry squeezed his friend's shoulders, partly to stay standing up and partly to make sure that Ron was still alive. His sobs washed over him in waves and he cried.

"He's gone, Ron. He's really gone."

A/N: I really hate myself right now. I love Sirius! He's my favourite character, what possessed me to do that? Well, please please review! I love getting the feedback. It makes me feel so good! :) I got this chapter out sooner than expected, now to get the next chapter out on my other story.... Which by the way, one of my faithful readers, who has read both of my current on-going stories, pointed out that I like to blow things up! :) I did it in this story with Ginny and I did it in the other one. I really didn't even realise that I did it until she pointed it out to me. It's hard not to do that when you're writing the stories at the same time. As far as I know, those are the only similarities between the two stories and hopefully I won't do it again! I'll make sure not to! So thanks for pointing it out to me. Again, please review! If you have any suggestions for where the story should go, please email or put it in a review because I'm kind of stumped as to where this should go right now. I do have some ideas but they aren't enough. I'll consider everybody's idea! 


	10. Chapter Ten

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Harry Potter. Please don't sue me.

**Chapter Ten**

Harry never remembered how he got back to his house. He was pretty sure that Ron and Draco carried him into his bed, but he wasn't sure how they got him through the Floo network. It was all a blur after he brought all the Death Eaters out of the woods. It was about one in the afternoon the next day and Harry was still lying in bed. He decided that he probably stunk pretty bad and dragged himself out of bed and took a shower. His looks didn't really matter to him at the moment, so he just shoved his glasses on his face and didn't even bother to do his hair. It all seemed so trivial. He dragged on some jeans and a T-shirt and walked downstairs to make some coffee for himself.

When he got down in the kitchen, he half expected Sirius to come in through the door and greet him happily like he did almost every day. Instead, he just sunk down onto the floor and let the tears roll down his face when the person who came into the kitchen, wasn't his godfather but Draco Malfoy.

"Come on, Harry. Get off the floor," he said quietly.

"I like it here."

"Sure you do. Because we all like sitting on cold tile floors everyday. Come on, you're getting up and sitting down on a nice comfortable couch and I'll get you some coffee."

"What are you doing here? I don't need your pity. Or anybody else's. I'll get by fine, thank you very much."

"I'm not here to give you my pity. I'm here to be your friend, that's all. This is what friends do. They help each other out," he said, echoing Harry's words from two days earlier. Draco picked up Harry under the arms and hauled him off of the floor. Harry took advantage of the help and leaned onto him for support. He wasn't sure he could walk by himself. Draco led him into the sitting room and sat him down on the couch but before he could walk back into the kitchen, Harry grabbed his hand.

"Thank you, Draco."

"Just returning the favour," he said smiling faintly. A couple minutes later, Draco came back in with a cup of coffee and handed it to Harry. He took a sip and immediately began coughing.

"This definitely isn't just coffee."

"No, I added a bit of Ogden's Firewhiskey to it. I thought you could use it."

"Yeah, thanks. A bit strong though."

"I think you can take it. You're a man," Draco said while smiling. Harry smiled back at him.

"I suppose I am." He sighed then and took another drink.

"Hey, Harry. How are you doing?" Harry looked up and saw Ginny standing nervously in the doorway.

"Hey, Gin. As well as can be expected I guess. Come here." He put down his cup and patted the seat next to him on the couch. She sat down and promptly wrapped him in a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry, Harry. I wish I could do something for you, but nothing can bring back a person. I just wish that it hadn't been Sirius, he was so good for you." Harry pulled back as tears started cascading down his face.

"I know, don't feel like you need to do anything. Just you being here is more than enough for me." Ginny gently wiped the tears away from his face and kissed him on the cheek.

"I thought you should know...we've got the funeral planned for tomorrow at three. Charlie, Ron, Steve, Draco, Fred, and George are being the pall bearers. Since you and Remus were really his only family, you'll be walking directly behind them to the cemetery."

"OK, will you walk with me?"

"Won't people see me with you? I mean, you'll be Harry, not James."

"I don't care, I want you there with me."

"All right. I'll walk with you."

"Thank you. Ginny...do they know what curse killed him?"

"Yeah....I don't really remember the name of it. It was like a heart attack but different. Well, I'm not exactly sure what it does, but it hurts like one and it just slowly shuts your heart down. And if there is enough power that goes into it, it can shut down your other organs. We think that that is what happened to Sirius. Whoever did it was a very powerful wizard or witch."

"Isn't it illegal?"

"Not yet," replied Draco. "They have brought it to a vote many times but there are a lot of Death Eaters in the Ministry still and they have voted against making it illegal many times. It should be because it's just a slow death." Harry closed his eyes.

"They just had to make it painful for him, didn't they?"

"That's the way of the Death Eaters, Harry. You should know that," said Draco bitterly.

"I do know that. It doesn't make it any easier to know how much pain he was going through. He...he didn't deserve to die," he choked out. Ginny reached out for him but he brushed her aside and stood up angrily.

"Harry, what are you doing?" asked Ginny anxiously.

"I'm going to the loo. Is there a problem?"

"Oh, no. You just seemed like you were going to do something stupid. Sorry."

"It's OK," he mumbled as he stalked out of the room. In truth he had been planning on doing something but he hadn't known what. He was thinking of going out and finding every last Death Eater and killing them. But when Ginny spoke to him, his moment of insanity passed and he lied and said that he was going to go to the bathroom. When he walked through the kitchen, he noticed Arthur and Molly Weasley coming in through the front door and speaking to Brian for a moment. Brian let them through and Molly immediately went to Harry.

"Harry, I'm so sorry. I know this must be so hard on you," she said and then wrapped him in a tight motherly hug. Harry couldn't hold it back anymore and so he cried into her shoulder. She rubbed his back and made soothing noises in his ear as if he were a nine year old child with a scrape on his knee. He found he didn't really care if he was twenty-five years old. It didn't hurt any less because of his age and it definitely didn't feel bad to be comforted by the only mother figure he had ever had.

After a few minutes, he pulled back from her and took off his glasses to wipe his eyes off.

"Sorry, I've got your robes all wet." Molly smiled kindly at him.

"It's OK, dear. My, I can't believe I didn't see it before."

"See what?"

"That you are James. I guess it must have been the eyes or something."

"Oh yeah, I'm really sorry about lying to you. And this wasn't the way you were supposed to find out. I was just about to tell you when Sirius ran off."

"It's all right, Harry. You should know that we would never hold a grudge against you and Ginny already explained to us why you didn't want to say anything. We completely understand," said Arthur.

"Thank you, Arthur. That really means a lot to me." Molly started guiding him back into the living room.

"Now what I want to know, Harry, is how serious are you and Ginny?"

"Molly!" scolded her husband. "That's really none of our business! They'll tell us something when they are ready to."

"Actually, we were going to say something after I told you who I was yesterday but...you know. Ginny, come here."

"What is it?" Harry smiled widely at her.

"Well, your mum was just asking me how serious we are, and I thought it was about time to tell her," he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, giving her the wrong impression of what he really wanted to tell them.

"What? Harry...oh...OH, that! Right!" she exclaimed blushing. Harry chuckled softly at her and took her hand.

"Well, Ginny and I are engaged to be married." Molly took a deep breath and fell back against Arthur.

"Oh my goodness! Oh my dear little girl is getting married! And getting married to Harry!" She squealed in delight as words started to fail her. She then threw her arms around Harry's neck and kissed him on the cheek. "Oh, now we can make it official! You'll really be part of the family now. Congratulations! I'm so happy for you two!"

"Yes, congratulations, you two!" said Arthur as he shook Harry's hand but then changed his mind and hugged him like a son. "I couldn't think of anyone better for our little girl; well, maybe James Newark would have been a little better..." he said smiling.

"Oh well, if that's the way you feel, I can go get him right now."

"No, I like having you back with us," said Molly. Harry smiled at her.

"Me too," agreed Harry.

"Me three!" exclaimed Draco from his seat on the couch with a wide grin plastered on his face. He took everybody by surprise by jumping up and yelling, "Hugs!" and hugging Harry. He awkwardly patted Draco on the back but then laughed appreciatively at him once he pulled away.

"I'm sure you do, Draco. But don't ever do that again." "Agreed. Don't know what came over me. Completely uncharacteristic of me."

"I'll say."

~*~*~

Harry and Ginny walked hand in hand behind the coffin that held Sirius. Remus walked to Harry's left with his head down, tears silently rolling down his face. It didn't feel right to Harry that he had someone and Remus didn't. With the exception of himself. He was just about to let go of Ginny's hand to go to his friend when Remus collapsed on the ground.

"Remus!" exclaimed Harry. The line of people behind them stopped and stared while the pall bearers hadn't even noticed his collapse and kept walking.

"Come on, Remus. You need to get up," he said and wrapped his arm around his torso and heaved him off of the ground. Harry fought back tears as he looked at him. Remus was always the calm and collected sort of man and seeing him completely broken was more than Harry could bare.

"Why did I have to be the last one, Harry? I should have been the first to go, I'm a damned werewolf! They didn't deserve it, I did."

"No, they didn't deserve it but neither do you. Come on, let's keep walking," he said quietly. Remus wrapped an arm around Harry and started walking again.

"Maybe you should go back to Ginny," he said after a couple moments.

"No, I need to be with you now. DON'T argue!" he added firmly as Remus opened his mouth to say something. After a couple minutes, they finally reached their destination. The coffin was already set over the opening in the ground, ready to be lowered. It seemed that both Harry and Remus went through the motions without really realising what they were doing. Before he knew it, they were taking a handful of dirt and throwing it into the grave. Harry looked down into the grave feeling that everything was so surreal. When did this happen? Why did he have to bury Sirius already? That wasn't supposed to happen until after they had lived to be old men. At that moment, Harry's knees gave out and he would have fallen if it hadn't been for Remus. He held onto his friend as if he would disappear if he didn't.

"Can you walk?"

Harry nodded his head dumbly and began to walk with Remus as his support.

"You know what's funny? I've always thought that I should have been the one to die first out of anybody."

"Why?"

"I was supposed to have died when I was one. Why am I still here? There's no reason for it."

"Yeah, there is. You survived to help other people survive. You helped Sirius remain sane while he was in Azkaban; you saved thousands, if not millions from dying at the hands of Voldemort, not once but twice. And you're most certainly helping me stay alive now. In more ways than one." Harry smiled at him.

"Don't you forget, that I always will help you stay alive."

~*~*~

Harry took the next week off of work so the Cannons used the reserve Seeker for the game. They won by only ten points Harry only had two days left of vacation and wasn't really looking forward to going back as he sat in his study going over bills. They all just happened to be Sirius'. Luckily, money wasn't a problem since Harry was already pretty well off and Sirius had put into his will that half his money would go to Harry and half to Remus.

But still, Harry wasn't happy with that arrangement. Remus needed the money more than he did. The job that Remus had, had just found out that he was a werewolf and fired him, so he was out looking for jobs once again. His unhappiness only doubled as he opened up a notice that Sirius hadn't had the chance to pay Remus' rent and that Remus was now going to be evicted from his flat. Harry hadn't even known that Sirius had been paying his rent. The money that Remus inherited would only help him out for a few months, if that.

Harry sighed and leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He sat thinking of possibilities for Remus but only one sounded good enough for him. He immediately got up, put on his cloak and went outside to go Apparate to Remus' flat. The wind was bitingly cold outside of the building where Remus lived. Harry wrapped his cloak around himself and knocked on the door. After a minute, the door still hadn't been opened so he knocked again, this time more urgently because he was starting to get worried.

"Remus! Are you there?" The door opened slowly to a very dishevelled looking man.

"Harry, what the hell are you doing here?" he asked tiredly. "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot that it was the full moon last night. Did you manage to get any sleep last night?"

"About two hours."

"Well, that's better than most full moons, huh? Snape is a miracle man." Remus laughed quietly.

"Never thought I'd hear you say that. Oh sorry, come in, it's freezing."

"Yeah, thanks." Harry stepped into the sparsely decorated flat and took off his cloak and hung it up.

"So, what brings you by this afternoon? Would you like tea or coffee?"

"Tea, thanks...." Harry was about to continue but his eyes fell on boxes all over the place. "Remus, are you packing?"

"Oh, um yeah. I was."

"Why?"

"Well, I can't really afford this place anymore." Harry nodded his head.

"Right, is that because Sirius was paying for it?" he asked quietly. Remus snapped his head up and looked at Harry with wide eyes.

"How did you know about that? I thought Sirius never said anything to you."

"He didn't say anything. This is actually why I came over right now. I was going over his bills and there was a late notice. He forgot to pay last months rent and it said that you were being evicted."

"Oh, I see."

"So, what were you planning on doing? Just packing and moving out onto the streets without even telling me?"

"I don't know. I hated the fact that Sirius paid my rent but he was always so adamant about it. He wouldn't take no for an answer...." he paused and placed a cup of tea on the table and gestured for Harry to sit. Harry sat and wrapped his cold hands around the cup. "I just didn't want to do it again. I'm tired of it."

"Remus, I can understand how you feel about it; but do you really think that I am going to let you go live out on the streets? You've got another thing coming if you do."

"Well, I can't live here anymore anyway. They've got a couple lined up to move in on Tuesday."

"What? But it's Sunday!"

"I know, but they didn't give me much choice in the matter." Harry sighed and scratched his head in thought. They certainly couldn't have him move into Sirius' old flat. They had been cleaning it out all week and there were renters in there already. The idea had already come up anyway and Remus had flat out refused to do it because it held too many memories of Sirius.

"Then you're moving in with me." Remus' eyes got extremely large.

"Harry, I am not moving in with you. You and Ginny have got a wedding to plan and then she'll be moving in with you and you'll have kids. I won't move in with you."

"OK, so I won't have Remus but I'll at least have Remus' things," Harry replied and got up and Apparated four large boxes to the front lawn of his house.

"Harry James Potter! What do you think you're doing?" Remus exclaimed. Harry laughed.

"Nobody has called me by my full name since I was sixteen."

"Well, it's about time somebody starts again! Get my things back here!"

"Why, when you are moving to my house? That would be completely pointless," Harry smiled devilishly at him but Remus planted his feet on the floor and crossed his arms like a kid 

"Harry, I am _ moving in with you," he said firmly. Harry walked up to him so that they were only a foot apart and looked him in the eyes._

"Do you not want to move in with me because you think it will interrupt my life or because your pride would be hurt?" THere was a long silence until Remus grudgingly said,

"Both."

"OK, for one, you will not, and I repeat, _will not_ be interrupting my life. You are a part of my life and as for Ginny, she loves you just as much as I do. She'll be fine with it. She has been ranting and raving about how worried she is about you the past week, about your emotional well being and your living situation and how skinny you're getting...Come to think of it, she kind of sounds like her mother," he added with a grin and then grinned even wider when he was rewarded by a smile from Remus. It was a rare occasion that he would smile anymore.

"And as for your pride, well, you'll just have to get over it somehow because I am not taking no for an answer."

"But Harry..."

"No, Remus. Sirius requested some things from me before he died. The first was to tell everybody who I am. And I intend to do that as soon as I have some business finished. The second was to marry Ginny and have kids, which I also intend to do. But he also told us to watch out for each other. And I intend to do that until we're old men with canes and I am a great-great grandfather and you're, well you're like my uncle so that'd make you a great-great-great uncle? Well, anyway, we'll be old together in the same house."

"It'd be great-great uncle actually. Thanks for making me feel so old already."

"It's what I'm here for! So...what do you say Remus?" He sighed deeply and ran a hand through his already dishevelled hair.

"Fine, I'll move in with you."

"Great! Now, are you all packed or is there still more?"

"I haven't gotten to everything in the living room yet but everything else is packed." Harry moved about the place and levitated the few things that weren't in boxes, into them and then magically closed the flaps.

"There, now what about the furniture?"

"I don't want it, and besides I won't really need it I guess." Harry scratched his head in thought. All the furniture was pretty old and he figured that they wouldn't make much money off of them.

"What would you say to having a bon-fire tonight?"

"What? What does that have to do with anything?"

"It has to do with everything! I'm suggesting that we just burn it all. It'd be fun. We'll have s'mores, butterbeer and mead and a bunch of friends over. It'll be good fun!" Remus was looking at him as if he had grown a third head that looked like a hippogriff, but then he laughed and agreed.

"I've never had a Muggle style bon-fire before. Should be interesting. And what are s'mores?"

"I'll explain them later, trust me, you'll love them!"

~*~*~

Two hours later, Remus was busy unpacking his things and making the guest bedroom into his own. Harry was busy out in the yard putting flame repellant charms on the grass and trees so that they wouldn't catch fire. He then levitated all the furniture into the backyard and stacked it up neatly. There really wasn't that much but it would keep a nice large fire going for an hour or two without the help of magic.

When he was finished, he fire called everybody and asked them to come and then Flooed over to Steve's house in LA.

"Hey, Steve! Are you home?"

"In the kitchen! Is that you Harry?" Harry walked into the kitchen and saw his friend pouring himself a glass of soda.

"The one and only! That stuff will rot your teeth you know." Steve shrugged noncommitally.

"It's damn good for cleaning rust off car batteries too though. Where else can you find multiple uses for a beverage, other than drinking it of course!"

"I can't think of any," Harry said smiling.

"So, Harry, how are you holding up?"

"I'm doing OK. You know, it's still hard to know he's gone but I'm sure that will never go away." Steve nodded his head and took a drink of his drink.

"And Remus?"

"Not too good. It didn't help that the full moon was the last couple nights, you know? I can tell that he hasn't been getting enough sleep as it is and then add that to it. And he's not eating nearly enough, but hopefully Ginny will be able to fix that now that he's moved in with me."

"He moved in with you? Why?"

"Long story. But what are your plans for tonight?"

"Nothing right now. Why?"

"I'm having a bon-fire in my back yard so we can burn Remus' old furniture. We wouldn't make any money off of them so we decided to have a little fun getting rid of them. We'll be having s'mores, butterbeer and mead if you want to come."

"Sure, who's going?"

"Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, Remus, me, Draco might come, and you. Nothing big. Just a couple people."

"Sounds good, what time?"

"In an hour and a half. Gets dark around six so I told people to come around six-thirty."

"Nice, I'll be having my evening out in London and then I'll come home and still be able to go out and pick up a girl." Harry shook his head.

"You'll never change."

"You know what's changing?"

"What?"

"Your accent. Everytime I see you, it gets thicker and thicker."

"That's what happens. Oh do you have any chocolate bars or graham crackers?"

"No, but I could pick some up for you if you want."

"Yeah, that'd be great. I still need to go to the Leaky Cauldron to get the drinks. I'll see you later then." With a final wave, Harry Disapparated with a pop to the Leaky Cauldron, making Steve jump and mutter under his breath about crazy wizards.

~*~*~

"Come on, Harry or we're going to start this fire without you!" yelled George impatiently. Everybody was gathered around the pile of furniture, shivering in the cold. Harry ran out the back door of his house and yelled the incantation for fire rather enthusiastically, making the fire jump up to the level of the roof top. Everybody jumped back in surprise.

"Calm down, Harry! The Muggle police will be called if we do that again!" exclaimed Hermione as she put a charm on the fire to make it stay at a reasonable level.

"Sorry. You guys were rushing me." He clapped his hands together and rubbed them together enthusiastically. "Time for some s'mores!" he exclaimed happily. Everybody gathered around Steve for him to show them how to make them while Harry pulled Ron back to talk.

"So, where's Harry Jr?"

"With my mum and dad."

"Oh, Ron...I need to talk to you a bit later. After we're done eating, maybe."

"All right. How come you've never told me about s'mores? They sound so good!" Harry laughed and went to help a frantic Steve. He was having a bit of trouble explaining the process of making s'mores in lamens terms to a group of wizards.

***

An hour later, the small group was sitting lazily around the fire, drinking either butterbeer or mead. Harry stood up from his seat next to Ginny and pulled Ron out of his so that they could sit in different chairs set away from everybody.

"OK, I wanted to ask you how the effort is going with the Death Eaters and how many you have caught since last week." Ron sighed deeply and sunk down into his chair.

"I was afraid you would want to talk about this.....Well, to be honest, the effort isn't really going all that great. And we haven't caught anymore Death Eaters since you caught those other ones last week."

"You haven't caught _any_ at all?"

"No, Harry, you don't understand our situation at all. We've only got about fifteen aurors in all right now. More than half of them are fresh from auror training. They aren't experienced at all."

"You only have _fifteen_ aurors? There has never been that low of a number...ever."

"I know. After the last battle, a large group quit because they thought they would get to work for you. They wanted somebody like you to lead them. And then after Voldemort was gone, nobody has had an interest in becoming aurors. We're in desperate need of them."

"Why would they even think that I would get a higher position?"

"Because there was one ready for you. You were going to get the promotion the day of the final battle but then well, the battle happened and of course nobody ever got around to it. And then you disappeared. So they promoted some other guy. I can't even remember his name. He moved to the States about two months ago and I got promoted up to Lieutenant."

"You're Lieutenant now? How come you never told me?"

"I don't know. I wasn't too happy about it. We're in such a tight spot, it's not an easy job."

"I can imagine...Ron, do you know how many Death Eaters are still out there?"

"We think about twenty. There used to be forty-two, but then you took out seven of them last week."

"But that would leave thirty-five. What happened to the other fifteen?"

"See, that's the thing. We don't know. Well, we know that they are dead, we found them, we just don't know how they died."

"You don't know how that died? Do you even have any leads on who would have killed them? Not that it really matters. They were Death Eaters."

"Um...yeah, we have an idea who may have done it..."

"Well..."

"....We think you did it." Harry's mouth dropped open as he looked at his friend.

"What? And how come I don't have any memory of this?"

"Because you don't remember anything that happened to you when you were kidnapped."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Possibly everything. You see, the day before you were kidnapped, we detected some Dark magic in this house in Wales. I was getting a crew together to go and check it out, but then you were kidnapped and that was first priority for everybody. The house was just forgotten.

"So, when you came back, the house was first on our list of things to do. The weird things was, was that there were no signs of Dark magic there anymore. There wasn't anything going on. But I decided to go anyway but with only two other aurors. We walked into literally, a blood bath. Every Death Eater in there was dead, except for one. The bodies were completly mangled up.

"When the autopsies came back, there was no cause of death. Yeah, the bones were misshapen and made the bodies looked distorted but they weren't broken. Their bodies were bleeding but there was no open wounds on any of them. There wasn't even a sign of 'Avada Kedavra' being used on them..."

"Hold up. There isn't a possible way to tell that Avada Kedavra was used unless if there is nothing."

"No, it's a new discovery. It has something to do with the heart; I'm not a doctor so don't ask me to explain it. The doctor who explained it to me was using all these medical terms that I didn't understand."

"Oh, so how do you figure that it was me?"

"We found the cloak that you had been wearing in the hospital in a room where it looked like they might keep somebody prisoner. There was only a small cot and a bedside table." As Harry sat and listened to Ron, he was slowly getting angrier and angrier. Why hadn't they told him anything?

"Ron, why, in your right mind, didn't you tell me about any of this?"

"Well, I didn't think that it was that important."

"Whatever, well, did you check for magical signatures? Because if you had, you would have known what happened. What kind of magic I supposedly did to kill these people. Because if nothing had disturbed anything between the time they were killed and the time you got there, the signatures would have been there; and you would have known what kind of magic was used."

"We did check for signatures. That's where it got really weird. There was nothing in that house except for some locking charms on the door and the Dark magic that we had been detecting and then normal stuff like cooking and unlocking the door. And the only magic used in the room where we found your cloak was a transfiguring charm where somebody transfigured something into a shepherd's pie and they conjured a fork." Harry's head shot in the direction of Ron.

"I did that," he said quietly. "They were trying to feed me this mouldy stuff so I transfigured it into something edible."

"Maybe we should have..."

"Should have told me? Damn straight you should have told me," he interrupted. "Who cares if you didn't think that it was bloody important. I've been wondering how I got away and at least now I know that I somehow killed those bastards."

"I'm sorry,' Ron whispered. They were silent for a while, looking into the flames and listening to the others talk. Harry spoke so suddenly that Ron nearly jumped out of his chair.

"I want to help."

"Help with what?"

"With the Death Eaters as an auror."

"Are you serious? What'll Ginny think?"

"I don't know. I know she probably won't like it but I have to do it...for Sirius."

"All right, luckily it won't be so hard getting you in since we have been wanting you back for quite some time now. And plus you don't need to go through the training again. I'll talk to the Head of the Department tomorrow. You'll probably be in by tomorrow evening at the earliest."

"Thanks. It really means a lot to me.

"What about Quidditch, Harry? Are you just going to give that up? I mean, people will notice when the star Seeker is gone again."

"I don't care, let them wonder."

"But Harry, professional Quidditch has been our dream for as long as I can remember. You're just going to give it up now that you have it?"

"I didn't say that I was going to give it up. I'm just going to take a break until I get every last Death Eater. Then I'll go back. I'll never give up Quidditch until I get hit by so many bludgers that I can't stay on my broom. You know that."

"I know, I've always wanted one of us to be in Quidditch. I didn't just want you to give it up." "I won't. Oh and when's Pettigrew's trial?"

"This coming Saturday. You'll need to be there. The notice will probably be coming in the next day or two."

"All right...What I wouldn't give to beat the living day lights out of that little rat," he said venomously. Ron looked Harry up and down.

"Nah, I don't think you could."

"Excuse me?"

"You wouldn't be able to hurt a fly," he said with a mischievious smile on his face.

"Oh and who was the one who pinned you in the hospital that one time? I don't think that it was Fred or George."

"That was luck. I say we try it again."

"You're on." They both stood up and Ron tackled Harry. They were so engrossed in their wrestling match, that they didn't realize that everybody was placing bets on them. After ten minutes, Harry got tired and levitated Ron head first into the snow bank.

"Ha! I told you that Harry would be the smart one and resort to magic! Hand it over, George!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Damn," muttered George as he gave Hermione three galleons. Harry walked over to Ron and helped him out of the snowbank.

"Well, mate, looks like we're pretty evenly matched," he said smiling.

"Looks that way," said Ron smiling back. But he was smiling for a different reason. He actually accomplished getting Harry's mind off of the Death Eaters and Sirius for at least ten minutes. If there was anything he was going to do for his friend, he was going to help him to remember how to have some fun. They would all need it after this battle was over.

A/N: This is so annoying! I had to rewrite the last half of this chapter because my disk wouldn't open it! So this is up later than I originally would have liked it to be. So, I'm sorry if this is pretty boring. It's just leading up to some things that will happen in later chapters! In the upcoming chapters, you'll get to see some of Wormtail's trial, Ginny driving Harry nuts with wedding plans, Harry as an auror, and possibly some more deaths but no more of the main characters. I'm still angry with myself for doing that but hey, I had to do it. So please please review! I'll be thanking all my reviewers in the last chapter of this story. Oh and if you want to know what is going on with my current stories, like where I'm at with them, please go to my Bio and I'll give as many updates as possible. I just updated today! 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter. Please don't sue me.

**Chapter Eleven**

Harry awoke the next morning to a very severe hangover. Preceding his wrestling match, he had gone on to drinking like he never had before. Nobody had really noticed how much he drank until he tried to stand up and almost fell into the fire. Hermione had admonished him very sternly and Harry told her that he could get as drunk as he wanted so she better shut her overlarge mouth. She had slapped him across the face and immediately Apparated home.

_Harry, I know you're drunk, but you shouldn't have said that to her," Ron said._

"Why should I even watch what I say? Why should anything matter to me? I'm just not going to care anymore, because when I do, people die for it. Sirius died because of me. Because I cared for him."

"You're starting to sound like you used to in Hogwarts, Harry. You know that wasn't your fault. Sirius died because he cared about you. He wanted you to live," Ron said gently and then made a move towards his friend to get him to sit down.

"Get away from me, Ron! I don't...need...you."

He then passed out and Ron picked him up and brought him to his bed.

Harry rolled over in bed and groaned in pain. A gentle hand was put on his forehead and he stopped moving.

"I thought you knew that alcohol doesn't solve problems. It only makes things worse." Harry opened his eyes and found Ginny looking down on him. She had clearly woken up from him groaning. Her hair was mussed up and her eyes had a sleepy look in them.

"Hangover cure please."

"I don't know if you deserve it. You were quite rude last night to Ron and Hermione." Harry thought a few moments and then the memory came back to him again.

"Oh, that. I was drunk. Didn't know what I was saying."

"Horrible excuse, Harry. You know just as well as I that when people are drunk, they tend to say more of the truth than when they're sober."

"So...what's the problem. Everybody wants a truthful person."

"I think we'd rather hear the truth out of you when you're sober. You're much kinder about everything."

"All right. I'm sorry. Can you please give me a hangover cure. I'm dying here. And don't talk so loud, it makes my head throb." Ginny sighed and then leaned over to the bedside table and grabbed her wand. A moment later, Harry's head felt clear and there was no more pain.

"You're a miracle worker, Gin." He leaned in to kiss her but she pulled away and aimed her wand at his mouth. He then tasted mint in his mouth.

"That one is a favourite of yours isn't it?"

"It has to be used sometimes. Especially when your breath smells like that," she grinned. Harry rolled on top of her and blew a raspberry in her neck. Ginny's rich laughs filled the room and Harry smiled into her neck.

"I love that," he whispered.

"What?"

"Your laugh," he replied and then leaned in and kissed her deeply.

"Harry!" came a yell from the door. He moaned from frustration into Ginny's mouth but continued kissing her.

"Harry! Ron wants you at the Ministry, now!"

"You should go, Harry," said Ginny pulling away. Harry groaned and dropped his head onto her chest.

"But I don't want to leave you."

"Too bad. He obviously has something he needs to speak with you about." Harry rolled off of Ginny onto his back and put his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, I think I know what it's about."

"Really? Is it what you were speaking so secretly about last night?"

"I think so. I need to tell you about that."

"What is it?" Harry rolled onto his elbow and rested his other hand on Ginny's stomach.

"Don't get too mad at me."

"I can't promise that. What is it?"

"I told Ron that I wanted to go back as an auror." Ginny's face immediately fell and she seemed to be looking at Harry without really seeing him.

"What?" she finally asked, quietly.

"I'm going to be an auror again."

"That's what I thought you said. Harry...why? And what about Quidditch?"

"I have got to help them. I've got to do it for Sirius. And I'm just taking a break from Quidditch. I don't want to retire completely from it yet." Ginny sighed deeply.

"I know you feel like you have to, and I know I'm being a bit selfish here, but I don't want to worry about you anymore than I already do. The threat of you dying by a stray bludger is enough to give me an aneurysm. But the threat of you dying because of a Death Eater....that's even worse. I'll have a stroke. Harry....I don't want to lose you."

"You won't lose me, Ginny. They haven't gotten lucky before and they never will. You have to understand that I can't go on having them threaten me and everybody I care about. I want to have a family with you one of these days. I want children and I want children without the fear that Death Eaters will come out of nowhere one day and kill them or you. I couldn't live with that. I need them gone before we get married and have kids. And I can't be promised by the Ministry that the Death Eaters will be eradicated when they only have fifteen aurors at the Ministry. That won't help anything." Ginny sat up and put her back to Harry. Harry didn't know what else to say until she said something more so he laid and watched her back. They were silent for almost five minutes when Harry noticed her shoulders shaking. He got up and sat next to her.

"Gin?"

"It's too late, Harry."

"What is?" Ginny looked up at him with red eyes and a tear stained face. He felt his own throat choke up from the desperate look in her eyes and he wrapped his arms around her. She fell into them and started sobbing against his chest.

"Harry....I'm pregnant," she said between sobs. Harry froze from rubbing her back and stared wide eyed at the wall behind his bed.

"Preg...pregnant? But...but I thought.....I thought you were on birth control potion," he stuttered.

"I was, Harry!" she said irritated, as she pushed away from him. "It's not 100% effective. I thought you knew that."

"I don't know what I thought......How far along are you?"

"One month."

"What? How long have you known?" Ginny looked down at her hands with a guilty expression on her face.

"Two weeks," she said quietly.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh come on, Harry. You actually expected me to drop this on you after Sirius died? You're obviously still a bit unstable about it from that little show you put on last night, which is perfectly understandable since it's only been a week; I wasn't about to tell you right when it happened."

"But you knew a week before that!"

"I was still coming to terms with it, Harry. I was so shocked when I found out. I had been making sure that I took that potion on the right day, right time, every month. I didn't want to become pregnant anymore than you want me to be. But the difference between us is: I want this baby; you don't." With that she started crying again, so Harry wrapped her in a hug once more.

"Ginny, I'll admit, I'm not exactly happy that this was the time that you got pregnant. But...you should know that I want any baby that you and I made. I've always wanted to start a family with you...This is just a bit earlier than I anticipated." Ginny looked up at him with hope written across her face.

"You do want this?" Harry gave her a reassuring smile.

"Of course I do." A sob of relief escaped Ginny's throat and she buried her head in Harry's neck. "Don't get me wrong, Gin. I'm not placing any blame on you...It's just...I wish that Sirius could have known. He wanted this for me." Ginny looked up at him with a mischievous grin on her face.

"What?" Harry asked, curiously. She giggled in the back of her throat.

"He did know, Harry, and so does Remus. Remus has those werewolf senses and he's the one that told me. We were down in the kitchen with Sirius. To say the least...he was estatic; although he did scold me for not being more careful. I think he was mostly kidding though." Harry smiled.

"I'm just going to overlook the fact that you three knew and kept it from me. How did Remus tell you?"

"Oh, he's so calm about everything, you know. I walked into the kitchen and he was looking at me funny and so I asked him what was on his mind. And he just kind of looked at me for a moment before he went back to drinking his coffee, and now I quote, 'Oh, I was just wondering if you knew that you're two weeks pregnant?'

"I was so surprised, I just sat there and stuttered through anything that came to my mind. Sirius must have known that Remus could do that because he came up and hugged me right away. Then Remus told me that he could tell that I was pregnant since the first day, but he decided not to tell me right away. He is something." Harry nodded his head.

"He is."

"Oh, and Sirius told me that he wrote you a letter from when you first came back and that he added some more to it when he found out I was pregnant."

"He did? Where do you think he put it?"

"I don't know. I was wondering if you would have found it since you have all his things."

"Well, there is a lot. I may not find it for a long time." A knock came at the door for the second time that morning and Brian's voice came.

"Harry! Ron just called again. He wants you there now!"

"Tell him I'm coming." Ginny looked at him again with a pained look on her face. "Gin, I have to do this. Please, just say it's OK. Sirius was killed by Death Eaters, I just want to return the favour." Ginny shivered from the malice dripping from Harry's voice.

"You do know that he told me he would do anything to protect you? He said that he would when he found out I was pregnant. He didn't want our son or daughter to grow up without a father the same way you did. I was speaking with Sirius at Steve's the day before the picnic and he said he had a feeling that something would happen. I tried to talk him out of it, but he was set on staying close to you at all times."

"You knew he was going to risk his life for me?"

"Not exactly. I didn't know anybody was going to attempt to kill you. I mean, Remus and I knew that he'd try to risk his life for you whenever possible. He said that he owed his life to you since you got him away from Hogwarts when he was about to be given the Kiss in your third year."

"He could have just pushed me down."

"Then the curse would have hit somebody else in the way. He knew what he was doing." Harry swallowed hard and stood up.

"I need to take a shower. Then I'm going to see Ron."

"You're still going to do it?"

"I can't _not_ do it. I have to." With that he walked out of the room and into the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, he was dressed again in his 'Harry' attire, except he chose not to grow his hair or put his scar on anymore. If somebody asked him about it, they'd have to be happy with no answer at all. The only thing that was his 'Harry' attire now was his eyes and glasses. He walked down to the kitchen and found Remus sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and reading the morning paper.

"Good morning, Harry."

"Morning, Remus."

"Going to see Ron, today?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Well, your door isn't the only one that Brian's voice drifted through this morning."

"Oh, sorry about that. I should tell him to just come in."

"It's okay. Something bothering you this morning, Harry?"

"Damn werewolf senses," he muttered as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"It wouldn't take a werewolf to sense your mood. It does however, take a werewolf to hear what you just said." Harry laughed and sat down across from him.

"Anything interesting in the paper today?"

"Not really. Don't change the subject. Ginny told you, didn't she?"

"That she's pregnant? Yeah, she did. And she's not happy with my decision to become an auror again."

"That's what you're seeing Ron about?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I can see how she's not happy with that."

"Oh, thanks for taking her side," Harry said bitterly.

"Think about it, Harry. She's pregnant and she loves you. Of course she's not going to want you endangering your life everyday as an auror. Being a Quidditch player already gave her enough stress. You should hear her rant about bludgers and how they shouldn't be allowed in the game. It's not fun sitting next to her when you're playing." Harry smiled weakly.

"I can understand her point of view, but it seems like she doesn't even want to consider mine."

"It's crazy, Harry. That's why. Sirius wouldn't want you to do this again," said Ginny as she walked into the kitchen.

"I'll never know that now will I?" He drained his cup of coffee and stood up to kiss Ginny goodbye but she moved out of the way.

"If you want to kiss somebody goodbye, go find Hedwig," she said coldly. Harry bit his lip to keep from replying. He couldn't risk making things any worse than they already were. He put his cup down onto the counter, more loudly than was necessary and stormed out of the kitchen. A few minutes later, he was at the Ministry offices in London. He made his way up to Ron's office and without knocking, he entered. Ron looked up from his paperwork, startled. Harry took his cloak off, hung it up and sat down in a chair in front of Ron's desk.

"Okay, now that we got the dramatic entrance out of the way," Ron said sarcastically.

"Shove it, Weasley." Ron merely raised an eyebrow at his friend.

"It's so nice to know that you still need me."

"What are you on about?"

"Oh, well, last night you were kind enough to inform me that you didn't need me."

"Ron, I was drunk. Okay? I'm sorry. I said some nasty things to you and Hermione that I shouldn't have said. I didn't mean them. Because in fact, I do need you, Ron. I need you to be my friend. I need you to get me back in here so I can be an auror. But most of all, I need you to put aside that damn Weasley temper because I've had enough of it to last me a lifetime." Ron started laughing.

"Harry, I can promise you that I can be your friend. I can promise that I can you get back in here, because I did. You're in. But...I can't promise to put away this temper. It's mine, and I like it because it gets me what I want. Maybe it's Ginny that you should be asking to put away her Weasley temper. So...is she mad at you because of last night or did you tell her why you were coming here?"

"She was mad about last night, but I don't think she is anymore. And she is to say the least, extremely mad at me about why I came here. She says Sirius wouldn't have wanted me to do it because he was planning on risking his life for me because he didn't want my son or daughter growing up without a father the same way I did." Ron wrinkled his forehead in confusion.

"What do you mean? So...Sirius pretty much died for nothing because Ginny isn't pregnant." Harry looked down at his shoes.

"She is pregnant." Harry could feel the temper rising from Ron.

"What?! You're not even married yet and you two decide to get pregnant?"

"We didn't decide to, Ron! She was taking her birth control potion at the correct time every month. Apparently, it's not 100% effective."

"Any dolt should know that."

"Well, I didn't. Ginny did but she didn't do anything about it. Anyway...I didn't come here to speak about my problems. I came here because you wanted me to come here." Ron was still glaring murderously at Harry.

"Oh for...Ron, it's not like we haven't been planning on getting married in the first place."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh....I didn't tell you that?" Harry asked sheepishly.

"No."

"I proposed to her on the day that she went into the hospital. We were out celebrating it."

"Great of you to tell me. My best mate is marrying my sister but yet...neither one of them decide to inform me of this. Just damn fan-bloody-tastic."

"I'm sorry. I thought I did. I mean, I've had my mind on other things." Ron got up and walked to stand in front of Harry, who lowered down into his seat at the look Ron was giving him. He smiled all of a sudden and held out his hand to Harry. He tentatively took it and was rocketed out of his chair and into a very tight hug.

"You'll really be my brother now. Congratulations, Harry." Harry swallowed hard and looked at Ron questioningly.

"I thought you were going to kill me." Ron laughed.

"Yeah, right. And risk having Ginny come after me? Even if she is angry with you, I don't think she would hesitate to do some bodily damage to me if I hurt you. Now...we need to speak about you being an auror."

"Yeah, we do. Did I hear you right before? Did you say that I was in already?"

"Yes, you are in. I went in there and said, 'Harry Pott..' and they got all excited and told me to sign you on. Don't know how they knew that that was what I was going to say." Harry stared dumbly at Ron for a moment before coming to.

"Well...when do I start?"

"Now. I'll bring you to get your auror's robes and do the basic new employee thing. Oh and there is one more thing..." Harry looked at his friend's gleeful face apprehensively.

"What's that?"

"You've been promoted to my position!" Harry's mouth dropped open and he stared.

"What?! I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly."

"No, you did. You're lieutenant now!"

"Um...and you're happy about this?"

"Couldn't be more so if I tried. I hate this position; it's more your area to be directing people like this."

"But...but...I don't want to take your job." Ron rolled his eyes.

"Harry, do _not_ start doing the noble thing here. Because it'll really start to grate on my nerves. It's really no big deal; I'm being moved to the position underneath you." At Harry's doubtful look, Ron clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Really, mate. It was my idea. It'll help you out because you'll have more freedom to do whatever you want; it'll help me out because I hate this position; it'll help this department out because it'll draw more aurors in. Everybody would just love to be under Harry Potter's direction. _Trust me._" Harry sighed deeply.

"Fine. But you're completely mental, you know that? Aren't you even taking a pay cut for this?"

"Actually, no. Rembers wouldn't hear of it. I'll be getting the same pay. Don't worry about it anymore. We're fine."

"Right...who's Rembers?"

"Oh, he's the new Head of Department. Paul Rembers. He's a good man; he just got promoted about a year ago when O'Reilly died."

"O'Reilly died?" Harry asked astonished. John O'Reilly had been the Head of Department when he had been an auror. They had been extremely good friends and Harry had never even thought to ask if he was still around.

"Oh yeah...I forgot to tell you. He was killed in a freak accident during a raid on a former Death Eaters house. Sorry, mate...I know how well you two got on." Harry sighed and shook his head.

"I can't think of that right now. Um...we were going to go get robes."

"Right...follow me." Harry followed Ron out of the office and through the sea of desks that were supposed to be all filled but with the lack of new aurors coming in, there were only about ten of them filled.

"We've _got_ to do something about that," Harry muttered under his breath as he surveyed the large room. However, Ron heard him and furrowed his brow.

"That isn't everybody right now. There are about five or six out in the field right now. Should be back soon. But yes, we do need to do something about it." They continued walking in silence until they came to a door. Ron opened it up to reveal a small room filled with auror robes in all different sizes. They were either in a dark blue or black colour.

"They aren't dirty are they?" Harry asked while sniffing at a sleeve of one. Ron rolled his eyes.

"No, house-elves come in each week and clean every one. Except for the ones on our backs. Otherwise, we give our dirty robes to them."

"Is that new?"

"Yeah, don't know why they started doing that....But it is rather convenient. Well...I'll leave you to it. Pick out four different pairs. Two blue, two black. Of course you know that the blue is for the field. Black for the office. So, when you're done, go down the hall to where O'Reilly's office used to be and you can fill out the paperwork there. I'll be waiting there." Ron left the room and Harry was left to find his size in that would fit him best. After about ten minutes rummaging through them, he emerged from the room with all his robes. He ducked into a bathroom to change into some black robes and then made his way to where Ron had told him to go. He knocked on the door and heard Ron answer.

"Come in!" he called. Harry opened the door to find Ron sitting in front of a large desk, which sat a balding, black hair man. Harry started when he noticed that the man's eyes were a mismatched colour. The right eye was a light blue while the other was brown. The man stood up and Harry backed up a little at how intimidating he looked. He was very broad shouldered and very obviously worked out every night. But when he spoke, Harry calmed down a bit. His voice was very deep and jovial.

"Harry Potter! As I live and breathe!" He started forward and took Harry's hand in his own. "It's a great honour to meet you. I'm Paul Rembers, Head of Department."

"Nice to meet you," he replied politely.

"I don't know how Weasley got you to come join us again but I couldn't be happier for it. I wouldn't think that you would remember me from back when you were an auror, but I was just starting out about a month before the final battle. I don't think that there was one man or woman on the team that didn't look up to you in everything. I actually feel like I should be giving you my job!" 

"Oh, I think I'm content with taking one man's job today. Maybe some other time though," Harry replied smiling good naturedly. Rembers' booming laugh filled the room.

"Yes, I didn't know what you'd think of that since I don't know you too well. But well...it was Weasley's idea and since it's a good idea in more than one way...I couldn't very well refuse the idea. Now, I think we have some paperwork to fill out and then you can move into a new office." Harry sat and soon he was filling out paper after paper. He was starting to get a feeling of nostalgia, with Ron sitting next to him. The only difference from the first time he did this was that O'Reilly sat behind the large oak desk. When the paperwork was almost finished, Ron was sent out of the office to gather everybody up into the large room of desks. And because the group of aurors who had been out in the field had just arrived.

"So, how does it feel to be coming back into the fold after so long?" asked Rembers when Harry finally set the quill down.

"A bit weird. Especially since I'm being promoted to lieutenant straight away. I didn't really expect that." Rembers nodded his head.

"I know how that feels. I never expected to be made Head of Department. So, what did the Cannons say about this?" Harry paused a moment.

"Er - well, I haven't exactly told them yet. I was going to tell them this morning, but right away when I woke up, I was told Ron had called me to get down here. I haven't had the chance yet." Rembers furrowed his brow.

"Well, you'll need to take care of that after we announce to everybody the change in their superiors." Ron stuck his head in the door and smiled broadly at the two.

"I've got them all riled up. They have no idea what's going on. I'll tell ya, that was fun!" he exclaimed. Harry shook his head and stood up as Rembers did the same.

"Let's go tell them, then. Weasley, I'll make the announcement that he's the new Lieutenant, but then I've got some business to take care of. You can take care of the questions after that." The three men walked out of the large office and down the hall to the room that the other aurors were waiting. Harry could hear nervous voices chatting with each other, wondering what the hell was going on. From the sound of it, Ron had done a good job riling them up. When they made their entrance, the room fell silent and fifteen aurors eyes were on them. It seemed that nobody recognised Harry for who he was: James Newark or Harry Potter. And if they did, they were doing a good job at hiding it.

"All right everybody...We've made a little change in Lieutenant this morning," boomed Rembers in his baritone voice. Confused mutterings started going around the small group of witches and wizards. One of them obviously couldn't hold her tongue because of the curiosity.

"What about Lieutenant Weasley?"

"It was his idea. He'll be in the position underneath Lieutenant Potter here."

"Potter?!" almost the whole group exclaimed at once.

"Yes, Potter," he growled back. "The one and only Harry Potter has joined us once again. And may I say that this sorry excuse for a Department will be looking better because of him. We may get some new recruits. Now, any other questions will be directed to Weasley and Lieutenant Potter. I have business to attend to." With that, the formidable Head of Department swept out of the room. All at once the whole room exploded in excited chatter. Harry surveyed the young faces sceptically. He didn't know how he would get anything done when it looked like most of them were fresh from Hogwarts. Granted, he shouldn't be prejudiced since he and Ron and been fresh from school and had been damn good aurors and respected all around. But still, it made Harry a bit nervous.

"Quiet!" ordered Ron. Harry started, it was quite rare to see him taking order in such a way. The group settled down and looked at the two men expectantly.

"There are some things that need to be said, that I for one, think need to be addressed. No matter how Lieutenant Potter may feel about them. Everybody here has a right to know since we are to work as a close knit group. And," he began in a threatening tone. "If anybody so much as says a word of this to anybody outside of this Department, I'm sure Potter will not hesitate to take drastic measures." By this time, everybody was hanging on his every word and Harry was looking at him with a confused expression. Ron looked at his friend and winked and then mouthed, 'Trust me.' Harry nodded his head and looked forward again.

"As some of you may or may not know, there is a man on the Chudley Cannons named James Newark, who plays the position of Seeker..."

"Ron! What are you doing?" asked Harry severely.

"They need to know. We need to work as a closely knit group and if they don't know why you are here, then we can't achieve that. They know everything, Harry." Harry sighed deeply.

"Fine, but make it quick. I've still got to go see Seamus and Dean about this."

"So, as I was saying...James Newark is an alias created by and for, none other than our own, Lieutenant Harry Potter." Shocked mutterings could be heard around the circle and the same witch who had spoken out before, spoke again.

"Lieutenant Potter _is_ James Newark?"

"Yes, he is. It was his name in America when he left the wizarding world and when he came back, he kept it and didn't tell anybody besides a chosen few who he was. Not even I knew." Here Ron sent Harry an accusing look but then smiled roguishly. "But anyway, Harry started receiving threats from Death Eaters and was kidnapped as we all know. We were all working on that case. He obviously got back home and life went on for a few months, until last month when we were at a picnic in Las Angeles, California. Death Eaters followed us there and regrettably, killed Sirius Black, Harry's godfather...." Harry looked around and was surprised to find that nearly everybody there had tears in their eyes. But it was with a jolt that he remembered these people had worked with Sirius. Sirius had filled the position that Ron was now taking. Harry swallowed back tears and looked determinedly ahead.

"Because of this," Ron continued. "Harry has decided to come back as an auror and rid the earth of the scum bags, we like to call Death Eaters." A couple people whistled and everybody started clapping. Harry smiled slightly at Ron who clapped him on the shoulder.

"See, it's going to be all right, mate," he said smiling happily. Harry nodded his head.

"I think it will be, Ron."

Soon after Ron's little speech to the rest of the aurors, Harry went down to the Chudley Cannons office and told Dean and Seamus his news. They were sad that they would have to use the reserve seeker, but they also said that they would hold the spot for him as long as it took him.

They made up a story to tell the press. James Newark's sister had gone ill in the States and he would be taking leave for an indeterminate amount of time. That was all that would be said on the situation. The press would be free to make up whatever crazy stories they wanted. Until the day Harry chose to come out with the truth, he didn't care and he would try to ignore it. On his way out of the offices, Draco stopped him.

"Hey, Harry. Sorry I couldn't make it to that little bon-fire you had the other night. I got held up with something."

"That's all right Draco. You didn't miss much anyway. Just a little blow-up on my part." Draco smirked evilly.

"That isn't much? I would have loved to see that."

"I know you would have..." he was about to go on but Draco was looking down at Harry's robes and then plucked at them distastefully.

"Are those auror robes, Potter?"

"Back to surnames, are we? And yes, they are, _Malfoy_. Good of you to notice."

"Is this why you weren't at practice this morning? You're an auror again?"

"Yes, I am. I'm taking a leave of absence for a while and helping them out with this little Death Eater situation. I'm not going to just sit around and wait until they kill off everybody I care about. Damn bastards deserve to rot in hell for all they've done." Draco very noticeably flinched and stepped back from Harry.

"Something wrong, Draco?"

"No, I've....I've um...got a headache. I think I'll just be going home. Good luck at the new job," he said hurriedly and then turned on his heel to leave. Harry reached out and spun him around.

"What's got you so hyper all of a sudden?"

"Nothing. I said it was a headache. I gotta go!" He turned and ran out before Harry could say anything more.

"Strange," Harry muttered under his breath.

Harry went back to the office and started to get settled into his office. The day went by extremely fast for him, with people coming in all day to congratulate him on the fast promotion. There were even people coming in from different departments to speak with him. At one point, Arthur Weasley came in smiling happily at him.

"I just heard the news! Ron came and told me. Congratulations, Harry. That's wonderful. I'm proud of you for being able to do this again."

"Thanks, Arthur." _Will you still be proud of me when Ginny and I come over to tell you that we're having a baby?_ he thought sadly.

"I really didn't expect Ron to just hand the job over to me like this. I just wanted to be an auror again." Arthur laughed happily.

"He's always wanted the best for you though."

"I know."

"Look, Harry, I was wondering if you were going to Pettigrew's trial on Friday?"

"I was planning on it. Why?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I just think that it's really important you go and testify. The correct action will be taken if you do." Harry nodded.

"Yes, I don't think that I could say no to testifying after all he's done to me over my lifetime." Arthur smiled sadly and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"He'll get what's coming to him. Just you wait....I should be going. A huge load of work just came into our department that I have to get started on. Say hello to Ginny for me. And don't be strangers anymore, yeah?"

"Yeah, I have a feeling that we'll be coming over sooner or later. Ginny will want to speak with Molly about the wedding and...a few other things with you both."

"Great, we'll see you later then, Harry!" he exclaimed and with a wave he was out the door again. By this time, it was time to leave and Harry put on his cloak to Apparate outside of his home. But before he could leave, Ron came bounding into his office.

"Hey mate! Do you mind if I come over for a while? Hermione and Harry aren't home tonight. They went to her parents house."

"Sure, if you don't mind Ginny. She will probably be in a right mood."

"First advice I'm going to give you: don't ever hack off a pregnant woman. Hormones. Woo! They are pretty scary."

"I've noticed. She told me to go kiss Hedwig goodbye if I wanted to kiss somebody so bad." Ron winced but then broke out into a smile.

"You could have done it and seen what she did."

"I don't think so," Harry laughed. "Let's go." They both Apparated to the outside of the Apparition barrier surrounding Harry's house. Harry turned to Ron and asked him what had been bothering him all day.

"Have you seen Draco lately?"

"No, why?"

"I saw him today. He was acting fine at first but then we started talking about how I'm an auror now and how Death Eaters are bloody bastards. He got all jumpy and said he had a headache and ran away from me." Ron furrowed his brow.

"Hmm...Definitely doesn't sound like Malfoy. He's usually calm and collected....I dunno, Harry. Maybe he really did have a headache." Harry unlocked his door and stepped into the warm atmosphere.

"I don't know. I'm kind of worried something might be up with him. Maybe he's upset that I'm not on the team for the time being."

"Could be." Harry closed the door behind them and locked it again. Remus walked into the room and greeted them happily.

"Hello, Moony. You've been stuck in a house with a mad pregnant woman all day and you're happy?" asked Ron incredulously. Remus smiled a little.

"Pregnant women aren't mad if you know how to deal with them. I calmed her down after Harry left and she's currently sleeping. Has been all afternoon, in fact."

"Thanks, Remus....I just don't know what to do. I want to respect her and not be an auror like she wants, but...I just can't. I need to do this."

"I understand, Harry. I'm sure she will too."

"Harry, is that you?" Harry looked in the direction Ginny's voice had come from. She was coming down the stairs and soon appeared. Harry sighed when he saw how beautiful she looked. She always had a certain radiance about her after she woke up from a nap or from a good night's sleep. This time was no exception. Being pregnant certainly made her look more radiant. Even if her stomach wasn't showing yet.

"Oh, hello, Ron," she said pleasantly and went to embrace her older brother. "I should be mad at you for doing this. You're the one who got him in, didn't you?" Ron looked down at his shoes with a guilty expression.

"I did...But you know, if I hadn't, Harry would have gone to somebody else and they would have gotten him in. There was no going around it." Ginny looked at him with a bemused expression.

"So quick to defend yourself. I'm not angry with you," she patted him on the top of the head in almost a condescending gesture and then turned to Harry.

"I want to speak with you," she said curtly. Harry fidgeted slightly before following her up to his bedroom. Once they were both in the room, and the door was shut and locked tightly, Ginny pushed him over to the couch and sat him down roughly.

"I don't like this one bit."

"I know, but..."

"No! I don't want to hear it again. I already know why you are doing this. And I've been thinking all day. Remus has thought I've been asleep. Well, I was, but only for the past hour. But anyway, that's beside the point. I know what your personality is like. It's always been this way. When an injustice has been done to you or somebody close to you, you want revenge; well, not revenge. That's too strong of a word for it. I know you say that you want every last Death Eater killed, but I know that you'd rather bring them in alive if you can help it.

"So, I guess you just want justice done. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that, because there isn't. If anything, I love you more for it. It's another one of your many qualities that people admire so much about you. You didn't have Sirius and Remus kill Wormtail in third year because you knew that your father wouldn't want them to become murderers just for some scum bag like him. Even though he was the one responsible for all the grief in your life.

"I'm still not saying I'm happy about this, because I'm not. At all, Harry. But I am giving you my blessing to do so because I know you will feel guilty about doing what you think is right until you get it. We're going to be together for the rest of our lives, Harry. I can't continue being as selfish as I have been today if I want our marriage to work. And I should hope that you do the same for me in the future when I feel strongly about something.

"Just...just promise me one thing, Harry," she said as she started to get choked up.

"Anything."

"Please be careful out there. I don't want to raise this baby alone. I need you." Harry stood up and wiped the tears from her face.

"Ginny, I'll always come home to you every night. I promise you. I'll be fine," he assured her and then kissed her gently. "That baby will grow up with both of us here." He knelt down on the floor and lifted her shirt just past her belly button. He rested his hands on either side of it and smiled up at Ginny. He leaned his forehead against her bare skin and kissed the skin just below her belly button.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too," she replied and Harry could hear rather than see the smile in her voice.

"Let's go back downstairs. I'm sure Ron will want me to make something for him." Harry stood up and took Ginny in his arms.

"Just a couple more minutes," he whined. Ginny snuggled into his body and sighed contentedly.

"You know how Ron is. The stupid git is always hungry and he can't cook for himself. You know that's why he's here tonight. Hermione called to warn me that he'd probably be over tonight for dinner." Harry laughed into her hair.

"Sounds about right. Oh, fine," he said in a long suffering voice and then released her.

"Oh, I saw your dad today. He said that we shouldn't stay strangers anymore."

"I know. I feel horrible. I haven't been over there in such a long time. It was only a couple days after New Years that I was there. It's been a month since then." Ginny began leading him out of the bedroom and down the stairs.

"Do you think we can go over there this Friday? I do have to tell them about this new development." Harry wrapped an arm around her waist and whispered into her ear.

"You mean, we have to tell them." He kissed her on the cheek and continued walking down the stairs. Voices started to drift up from the living room and the delicious smells of somebody cooking drifted to their noses.

"Who on earth is cooking?" asked Ginny.

"I dunno. Could be Remus. He's fairly decent at that sort of thing." The two walked into the sitting room and found Remus, Ron, and Arthur speaking jovially.

"Dad! What are you doing here?" Ginny asked surprised.

"Your mother called me at work just after I spoke to Harry and said she'd be coming over here to cook dinner. So I decided to leave work early and come here." He rose from his place on the couch and embraced his daughter. They pulled away and Arthur held her out at arms length.

"You seem different today," he observed. "Almost...I don't know...kind of like you're glowing. What did Harry do for you?" he asked smiling with mischief in his eyes. Ginny turned red and looked at the ground.

"Nothing. Well, he's just being Harry," she said as she smiled at Harry.

"You two made up have you?" asked Ron. Harry and Ginny both shot him a severe look.

"You two were fighting?" asked Arthur. "I hope it wasn't serious."

"Oh, it was nothing, really. We're fine now. Harry, I need to ask you something," she said and then pulled him from the room. She continued to pull him into the downstairs bathroom and locked the door behind her.

"Do you think we should just tell them tonight? Now is as good a time as any, don't you think? Why hold off the inevitable?"

"Will your dad kill me?" Ginny giggled.

"I don't know. Probably not. He loves you too much; but I'm sure he may be a little disappointed that we didn't wait until marriage. Same thing with my mum. They'll get over it when they realise that they are getting another grandchild. So... are we going to tell them?" she asked with a little hope in her eyes.

"I suppose so. We might as well."

"Great!" she exclaimed and threw the door open. She went back into the sitting room while Harry went into the kitchen to greet Molly.

"Good evening, Molly!"

"Harry! I heard about your promotion at the Ministry. I still can't quite get over the fact that Ron just gave you his job!"

"You and me both. It's what he seemed to want. So, do you need help with anything?"

"Oh, no. But thank you. It'll be done in about twenty minutes. Why don't you just go back in the sitting room with them and I'll bring some drinks in."

"Okay." Harry went and sat next to Ginny and put an arm around her. Molly soon came in with bottles of butterbeer for everybody. Just as Harry had his first drink in his mouth, he noticed Ginny bringing the bottle to her lips. He sprayed his drink everywhere and nearly spilled his bottle when he reached over and grabbed the bottle from her hands.

"Agh, Harry, learn some manners!" exclaimed Ron. Harry paid him no mind and stared at Ginny who was looking at him confused.

"Ginny! What do you think you're doing?"

"Harry, what are you on about? I was going to drink that butterbee...Oooh! Oh, Merlin! Thank you for stopping me! I'm such a stupid git." Harry smiled kindly at her.

"It was just an honest mistake. Anybody could make it."

"What are you two on about?" asked Arthur confused.

"Nothing. I've just um...decided to stop drinking alcohol."

"That's good. What made you decide that?"

"Um...well.." She never got the chance to answer because Molly interrupted them by announcing dinner. Dinner was a tense affair for Ginny and Harry. Both were getting more and more nervous about telling Ginny's parents their news. Remus noticed their mood and kept sending reassuring smiles to both of them. Harry appreciated the kind gesture from him. He needed some reassuring, especially since he wasn't so sure how he felt about becoming a father already. It was a scary thought. What if he wasn't a good father? What if the child ended up hating him? The latter would probably be something he would worry about until his dying day. And plus, Harry didn't have the slightest idea on how to be a parent since he never had a good parental figure in his life. There had been Sirius but he hadn't been around much since his name wasn't cleared until after Harry was living in America. The only people he had to look to were Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. On second thought, he didn't want to take any kind of parental advice from what he had seen from them. The only thing he needed was another Dudley as a child of his own.

After dinner, Remus helped Molly with the dishes while Ron, Harry, Ginny, and Arthur went back into the sitting room.

"Er - dad? Harry and I need to speak to you and mum when she gets done with the dishes."

"All right, honey. What's this about?"

"Oh, you'll find out," she replied nervously. As Remus walked in with Molly, Ron gave the older man a warning look and they both backed out of the room.

"Where are they going?" asked Molly.

"Just giving us some privacy, I expect," said Harry.

"For what?"

"We needed to tell you some news that they already knew about," said Ginny. "Just promise me that you won't like freak out and try to ground me or something because that won't work. I'm twenty-four." Both her parents laughed.

"Why would we want to ground you? I don't ever recall grounding you for anything," replied Molly.

"Yes, I know. I'm just nervous about this. Harry only found out this morning so...this is happening pretty quickly for both him and myself."

"Well, get on with it, then."

"Okay, mum, dad...I'm pregnant." Harry bit his lip hard as both of their smiles were wiped off their faces.

"Excuse me? You're pregnant?" asked Molly.

"Yes, I'm pregnant." Harry noticed with trepidation that Arthur's face was slowly turning a deep shade of red.

"Virginia Weasley," he began sternly. "You two are not even married yet and you're sitting here telling me that you are pregnant with his child?" Ginny also bit her own lip and looked down at the floor.

"Yes," she said quietly.

"Did you not even think of birth control potion? How could you be so irresponsible?" asked her mother angrily.

"I was taking it and taking it on time every month, mum!" she exclaimed. "It's not 100% effective. We thought we were being responsible. And I don't think that you should even lecture us. We are not teenagers anymore. We are grown adults, planning our wedding. That should count for something. It's not like I got pregnant by some man who means nothing to me at all! I love Harry with everything I've got and I'm not going to sit back and take you lecturing me on getting pregnant by him. I'm happy about this baby and I think you should to. This baby is your grandchild!" By the time she was done speaking, her face was flushed and she was breathing heavily through her nose. Harry took her hand and she turned to him.

"Calm down, Gin. It's not good for the baby." Ginny's face softened as she looked at him and she sunk down next to him and put her head on his shoulder.

"I know. I'm sorry." Harry turned to look at his future in-laws and saw that Molly looked properly chastised. Arthur, however still looked angry but not as much as before. Molly got up and took Ginny into her arms.

"I'm so sorry, Ginny. You should be getting all the support you can get. I'm not saying that I'm happy that you'll be having this baby out of wedlock, but I am happy for you two. You need something good in your life and I think this will give it to you. So, how far along are you?"

"One month."

"Have you gone in for a doctors appointment yet?"

"I have one tomorrow."

"Good. I'm coming with you."

"Mum, I don't..."

"Nonsense. Harry will be at work and you need somebody there with you. No fighting." Ginny was released from her mother and went to her dad who stood up from the couch. Molly stood in front of Harry and looked him in the eye.

"Stand up if you know what's good for you!" she commanded while smiling. Harry obeyed and was immediately wrapped in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry I got you so upset," he said.

"Don't be silly. You didn't plan for this just as much as Ginny didn't. But I feel certain that that baby will be loved no matter the circumstances of it being born. Now...I must go scold Ron and Remus for not telling me about this!" she finished and scurried out of the room. Harry turned to see Ginny leaving the room with tears rolling down her face. Arthur saw the concerned look upon his face.

"Don't worry. She's fine. Hormones get the better of some women better than others. Molly was always a right state when she was pregnant. I'm sure Ginny will be the same."

"I think so. She already has been like a rollercoaster today."

"Rollercoaster?" Harry smiled.

"Muggle thing. I'll tell you about some other time."

"Yeah, some other time. Why don't you sit? I've been meaning to speak with you for a while. Because you know, you're marrying my only girl. Have to have some sort of talk." Harry swallowed hard and sat, forcing a smile onto his face.

"I figured this was coming sometime. I was hoping later, rather than sooner. But..."

"Don't worry, it won't be too painful. Harry, I've known you since you were what? twelve years old? I know that you are generally a good man and I really couldn't ask for a better son-in-law. But you know, she's still my baby and I have to assured that you won't hurt her in any way."

"I could never purposely do that to her, Arthur. I promise you that. Do you have any idea how long I've been in love with her and have wanted to be with her?" Arthur got an amused smile on his face and sat down on the couch and stretched his long legs out.

"No, I don't think I've heard how long." Harry followed his lead and stretched out as well.

"I believe it was since fifth year at Hogwarts? Or maybe sixth. So it's been nine or ten years. And I know that she had a crush on me from the moment she saw me when she was ten." His future father-in-law smiled indulgently.

"Yes, I remember her going on about you all the time when Ron came back from his first year at Hogwarts. And she hadn't even been properly introduced to you yet." Harry chuckled a little at the memories from his first visit to the burrow.

"When I came to the burrow for the first time, I remember eating breakfast at the table, and she couldn't even make eye contact with me without blushing. She was so distracted that she put her elbow in the butter dish." Arthur laughed.

"Oh, she is something....Harry, I..." he never finished because Ron came rushing into the room with his face flushed.

"Harry, we have got to go to London right now! They are going to need every hand ready to help. You'll never believe what has happened!

A/N: Hahaha! Cliff-hangers: gotta love 'em! I only ended it there because if I put the next part in, it would make this chapter about 30 pages long on Microsoft Works. I'll stop at 17 I think. So anyway, **please review!!** I would appreciate it ever so much! I'm not getting as good of a response here as I am from FictionAlley.org. There are people emailing me but not reviewing. Is it really bad? I'm sorry if this chapter was a bit boring. I decided to drop that Ginny was pregnant in this one instead of in a future chapter like my original plan was. **More action will be coming in later chapters!** If you want updates, please leave your email address in a review and I'll add you to the list! 


	12. Chapter Twelve

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter. Please don't sue me.

**A/N:** The large portion of this chapter that is in italics, is Draco's memory of a particular night while he is speaking to Harry. I don't actually have him speaking though. Well, just read and find out what I mean. The rest of the italics later in the chapter are self-explanatory I think. But anywho, I got this out sooner than expected! I wrote it in about four hours. That's much quicker than the rest. I just hope I didn't make any mistakes. If I see them after I've posted, I'll fix them and then upload the chapter again. I'm pretty sure I've got all the bugs worked out of this chapter! I'm really excited about this one! A couple lines that I have Harry say I thought were just perfect for the situation. My friends loved them as well. Enjoy!

**Chapter Twelve**

_"Harry, we've got to go to London, right now! They are going to need every hand ready to help. You'll never believe what has happened!"_

Harry stood up immediately and walked out of the room with Ron.

"What happened?"

"I didn't get all the details, but apparently there was some sort of Death Eater attack at the Ministry."

"Ron? Why should I be surprised that that happened?"

"That's not the part you should be surprised about. Draco Malfoy has been arrested for killing three people." Harry stopped in his tracks and stared at his friend.

"What?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, apparently the team of aurors that got there saw him kill his third victim. I know it's a shock, Harry. Especially since he seemed to be all right...but we need to go down there." Harry started walking towards the anti-Apparition barrier again, his mind doing somersaults with all the thoughts swarming through it. Before they Apparated, he turned to Ron again with sudden realisation.

"You don't think..."

"What?"

"He's been the one who have been giving the Death Eaters information on me?"

"It looks that way. I don't know who else it could possibly be. I mean, Malfoy was one of the first people to find out who you really were and then the Death Eaters found out before any of us...Seems kind of suspicious." Harry Apparated without another word. He was afraid that if he dwelled on that thought anymore, he'd be too angry to Apparate and he'd splinch himself. Ron appeared by his side and looked at his profile with concern.

"Are you sure that you can handle this? This case has so many personal..."

"Ron, I am doing this because of my personal relationship with everything. I'll be fine." The two hurried into the Ministry and flashed their badges when the guards were about to stop them. The three upper floors had taken the main blow, so that was where they were headed. When they arrived at the third to the last floor, complete disaster met their eyes.

There was a large hole in the ceiling, desks were blown apart, papers were everywhere, windows and walls were blown out and there were bodies everywhere. Harry swallowed back nausea and walked underneath the hole in the ceiling and looked up. The two floors above were clearly visible from where he stood and people were moving about up there. A warm drop of liquid dropped onto Harry's cheek and when he wiped it away, he found that it was blood.

Looking up again, he found the source of the blood. A woman on the floor right above him was dangling dangerously over the edge with her arm severed off. Harry began to wonder where her arm went when he almost stepped on it. Again, a wave of nausea swept over him and he fought furiously to fight it off. An auror above walked into Harry's vision and so he yelled to him.

"Could you get this woman away from the edge of this hole? She's going to fall down!" He saw the auror grimace slightly but then he levitated her out of danger. Harry shook his head.

"The woman is dead for Merlin's sake. The least he could do is show some respect and pick her up," he muttered under his breath so only Ron could hear.

"He doesn't know better. Only came on a couple weeks ago. He's not quite used to the bloodshed yet."

"And you are? I sure as hell am not."

"I'm not either. I don't think anybody can become used to it...but after a while, you just, I don't know, become sort of immune to it all."

"I still have yet to become immune to it. And you would think I would have already. Honestly, I don't want to become immune or used to it. I'd have no emotions then."

"I have emotions," said Ron indignantly. Harry clapped him on the shoulder.

"You, my friend, are a rare case." Harry turned and saw the large form of his boss, Paul Rembers enter the floor.

"Potter! I've been looking for you. The Minister of Magic has been injured, luckily, nothing too serious. But I do need somebody to go downstairs a floor and question him a bit on what he witnessed. Could you do that? I've got all the new aurors cleaning up this mess and a medical staff from St. Mungo's taking care of the bodies. I need an authority figure to question people. Start with the Minister, then go to the captured Death Eaters. They are being held in the holding chambers in the basement. Weasley, you come with me. Oh, and Potter, record all conversations. We'll need them as evidence."

"Yes, sir." Harry walked out of the blood bath, only too happy to be getting out of it for the time being. He went to the magical lift and went down a floor to find the Minister of Magic. The Minister was currently sitting atop a desk, being tended to by a nurse from St. Mungo's.

"Minister Curring, I'm glad you fared well through this," he said upon approaching him. The man looked up wearily and eyed Harry with a confused expression.

"I'm sorry, I can't recall your name at the moment."

"Harry Potter." The older mans eyes lit up and he stuck out his hand, which Harry took.

"You'll have to excuse me. I took a blow to the head during this fiasco."

"You'll be fine now, Minister. I'll be back in a while to check on you," said the nurse and walked away. Curring leaned in to Harry with a small smile on his face.

"I did take a blow to the head, I just didn't know which name to use with you." Harry laughed a little.

"That's perfectly understandable. The lines are beginning to get a little blurry with myself as well."

"I hear from Rembers that you came back as an auror. And I see that it's true now that you're here in auror's robes."

"Yes, I just came back today actually. I didn't expect anything of this calibre to happen already."

"They did take us by surprise. I'm just happy that I didn't have Virginia working today. They killed everybody in their path to get to my office." Harry breathed out a long breath.

"I had never even thought of that."

"Oh, yes, she's your fiancee, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is...And carrying my baby." Curring's eyes lit up and he shook Harry's hand.

"That's great news." He winced a little as he got up off of the desk and sat in a chair.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, my head is just smarting a little. I assume you've been sent down here to question me on what exactly happened?"

"I have. Are you feeling up to it right now? Because if not, I can always go down to the Death Eaters and question them first."

"No, no. That won't be necessary. The nurse said I still have all my wits about me. Should I just tell from the beginning?"

"Yeah, hold on. I need to record this." He pulled his wand out and muttered some Latin words under his breath that made the tip of his wand turn red. "Okay, fire away."

"All right. Well, it was about an hour and a half ago, I was sitting in my office doing the normal paperwork that never ceases to stop coming to me. The room outside my office was quite busy at the time, my newly appointed body guards were outside my door, and a group of about ten witches and wizards running about, doing research for me. I was just about to get up to go and get some coffee when I heard a woman scream outside and then a large explosion.

"Of course, I ran out to see what was the matter, and just managed to see a large hole in the floor before my guards pushed me back into my office and closed the door so I couldn't see what was going on. There....there were a lot more screams when the Death Eaters placed the Cruciatus on people and Avada Kedevra. My door was banged open and I saw one of my guards, on the ground dead. The other one was still fighting but he fell as well. I tried to hold them off of me for as long as I could. But one of them got the Cruciatus on me and I fell back and hit my head on my desk.

"I think that's when the aurors came in, but I banged my head pretty good. Everything was pretty fuzzy until just about ten minutes ago."

"Do you remember seeing any faces of the Death Eaters?"

"Yes...There were three I think. If there were more, I didn't see them. I'm not sure who two of them were though."

"And the one you did know?"

"What's his name? He's on the Chudley Cannons. You should know him. Malfoy?"

"Draco Malfoy?"

"Yes. That's him. There's really no mistaking that blonde hair, is there? Got it from his retchid father."

"Were all three Death Eaters you saw, caught?"

"I'm sure that Malfoy was. I'm guessing that the other two were as well."

"Okay...Do you have any idea why they attacked here today?" Curring looked at Harry with a funny expression on his face.

"Don't you remember? It's the exact five year anniversary since You-Know-Who was killed." Harry dropped his wand in shock and the red light went out. "I'm sorry. I thought you of all people would have remembered that."

"No. I...I never remembered the date. My mind has started to shut out that day. I have been thinking the entire time that it was during the fall. Not February. That's how my mind is remembering it." Curring looked at him with something close to pity in his eyes.

"Maybe you should go home, Harry. There are other people here who are able to interview the Death Eaters now."

"No, I'm fine. I just didn't realise that they would plan an attack on the five year anniversary. I think I've got everything I'll be needing from you now. I'll go down to the holding chambers now." He summoned his wand to him and looked at the Minister dazedly.

"I'm glad you're well, Minister. Feel better, sir." He shook his hand once again and turned to go but Curring stopped him by placing a hand on Harry's elbow.

"Were you close to Malfoy?"

"Well, ever since I came back last year, I have been. Before that, we were always enemies. But I never thought he would do this."

"Turn your wand back on." Harry looked at the Minister funny but complied and made his wand glow red again.

"I just thought you should know. And I hope that there is something to this. Malfoy...he didn't seem to be acting of his own free will. It looked as though he were just going through the steps like an obedient house elf." Harry swallowed.

"What exactly do you mean, Minister?"

"I mean that there could be a chance that he was under Imperious. I'm not saying that that is what happened, but it's very probable. Either he has no emotion or he has been under the Imperious." Harry nodded his head.

"We'll take that into consideration. Thank you. Finite Incantatem." The wand went out and he pocketed it. "I can only hope that you're correct on that assumption, Minister. I won't lie and say that Draco has been a very good friend. The shock of this hasn't really set all the way in yet."

"It's understandable. There were Death Eaters that were killed tonight and if Malfoy really is under the curse and the caster is still alive...He may still be under it right now. Perhaps you should go down to the holding chambers and see him right now."

"I'll do that. Thanks again." Harry walked to the lift and went all the way down to the bottom floor. He showed his badge to the guard there and was let through immediately. The guard brought him to a small room.

"Have a seat. Which one would you like to see first?"

"Draco Malfoy. How many were caught?"

"Six. Five were killed and the rest got away."

"Thank you."

"I'll be back in a moment." The guard left the room and shut the door. Harry leaned forward, took off his glasses and tiredly rubbed his eyes. The door opened and a person was thrown down by Harry's feet.

"Not so rough!" he admonished the guard.

"Death Eater," he grunted and left the room. Harry made no effort to help Draco back to his feet or even to sit in a chair. He merely leaned back and put his glasses back on his face. To say the least, Draco was not looking well at all. The last time he had seen him was only that afternoon but it looked to be at least days since then. His hair was quite dishevelled and dirty. His face had blood smeared across it and there were dark circles under his eyes that may have been there before but Harry hadn't really noticed. His eyes also looked red rimmed and puffy, almost as if he had been crying.

Draco looked up and met Harry's cold gaze. Harry reached into his pocket and touched his wand. He again muttered the incantation under his breath and felt a warm glow against his leg, indicating that it was recording.

"Harry," he said quietly.

"Malfoy," Harry replied, having a hard time keeping his anger down. A dry sob escaped Draco's throat and he looked desperately at Harry.

"Please, don't go back to that. Please. You've got to believe me, Harry. I didn't mean to do this. They made me do it."

"Why should I believe you?"

"I'm your friend; that's why."

"Or so I thought. But you have been passing information to them all this time, haven't you?"

"I had to! I had to do it for Rebecca, Harry."

"Your Muggle girlfriend? I don't understand. Why would you have to give the Death Eaters information, when your father, who was a Death Eater, killed her?"

"I didn't tell you the whole story that day. I couldn't. If they would have found out, they would have killed her."

"You're not making any sense. I think you may be a bit hysterical right now. I'll call for the guard and I'll come question you later."

"No! Please, I'm not hysterical. I know what I'm talking about, Harry. Please don't go yet. Let me explain." Harry sighed and leaned back in his chair. He thought he was doing this against his better judgement. But seeing Draco like this was disturbing him. It just wasn't him to be so desperate. Of course, his situation was desperate. He was looking at a lifetime in Azkaban.

"Fine. Explain."

"I told you that we were planning on getting married after I put my father in Azkaban for all the things he did because I knew it wouldn't be safe to with him out in the open. And I told you that he found out about us and put a tracking charm on me and followed me to her flat and killed her. But the thing is, he didn't come alone. He came with Vincent Crabbe. Crabbe put the Cruciatus on Rebecca with my wand and my father and I did duel, like I said.

"But he never did kill her that night. Crabbe convinced him that it would be a lot more fun to take her hostage and torture her. At first, I actually thought that he was helping me out. But he wasn't. He's a sick sadistic bastard. I would have fought, but my father held the Cruciatus curse on me while Crabbe took Rebecca from her flat. Lucius threw down my wand and then Apparated to who knows where. That's the last night I saw him."

"Is she still alive?"

"Yes...hardly. They've kept her this entire time. I just saw her a couple weeks ago. She still knows who she is and who I am. I told her I'd be getting her out as soon as possible but I haven't known how to. I've tried everything but last night, it sort of backfired on me. That's why I couldn't go to your bon fire. I was trying to get Rebecca. But Crabbe caught me and put the Imperious on me. He said I was to help with the attack tonight. I was trying with everything I had to fight the curse off, but it really wasn't any good. But then by the time I saw you this afternoon, I was fighting it off and I could think for myself a little. If I would have been able to throw it off completely, I could have asked you for help. But I just had to run out of there."

"Why haven't you asked for help before this?"

"They had people watching me, listening in on me. That's why they knew who you were. And it's how they knew when you first saw the entire Weasley family again."

"But you weren't there."

"I know. I put a charm on you so that they could listen in on you all the time. They heard."

"Why were you doing these things?"

"Crabbe said that if I did everything they asked of me, they would release Rebecca after the attack tonight."

"So, what happened after you saw me today?"

"Goyle found me and brought me to Crabbe. He put the Imperious on me again just to be safe and then a couple hours later, we came here and attacked everybody." Another dry sob escaped him and he buried his face in his hands. "Please believe me Harry. I wasn't doing it because I wanted to. I need Rebecca back. Please say you believe me." Harry let out a breath and bowed his head and spoke to his shoes.

"I want to. I really want to. But I just can't do anything about it until we have more proof. We would need Rebecca to testify and to get her, we need to know where she is and what kind of security is around her."

"She's at Malfoy Manor in the holding cells."

"Don't you live in Malfoy Manor?"

"No. The Death Eaters made it their 'official headquarters' during the war and never gave it up. That's why my mum is living with me. She knows about Rebecca as well."

"What kind of security is up around the Manor and the holding cells?"

"The security around the Manor is down because only a person of pure Malfoy blood can keep them up. And since there are no Malfoy's living there anymore, they're down. The only obstacles you would run into in the Manor are the Death Eaters."

"I don't get it, Draco. When they kidnapped me, they had me in a small house out in Wales. Why didn't they bring me to the Manor?"

"I don't know. I never understood that either. Harry...do you know how you got back to Ron and Hermione's?"

"No."

"I brought you." Harry blinked.

"What?"

"That week, I had to go and see Crabbe...."

_Draco sat at his kitchen table with his mother, Narcissa Malfoy. They had just fallen into a tense silence after yet another fight about what to do about their situation with Rebecca. Draco wanted more than anything to just go in there and get her out. He knew the Manor better than anybody there; and with the wards down, it would be easy. Narcissa, however, felt that they should just play it safe and do what the Death Eaters wanted. Draco clenched and unclenched his jaw and finally sighed and sat back in his chair._

"Mum, how can you just expect me to sit back and wait for them to give her to me? It's been almost five years. How am I supposed to know that they ever will give her back?"

"Draco...I know it's hard for you. But you must understand that if you were to be caught trying to break her out, the consequences could possibly mean yours or her death. It wouldn't help Becca any for you to die." Draco hung his head in defeat. The last thing he wanted to happen was for her to be free but unhappy because he was dead. Dead because of having stupid Gryffindor bravery.

"Just go and speak with Crabbe tonight. Maybe you can work something out."

"I suppose I better. He wanted to speak with me tonight and maybe I can get him to give up Harry. I just hope they haven't killed him yet."

"Don't think that way. He's still alive. Now get going. I don't want you moping around here all night." Draco got up and kissed his mother on the cheek and went outside to Apparate to the little house in Wales.

When he appeared outside, Crabbe, Goyle and one other man that Draco didn't recognise ran out of the house. Explosions were heard from inside and an emerald light was flashing.

"Malfoy, I advise you to get the hell out of here. Our prisoner has just gone off his cob! He's killing everybody in sight," Goyle yelled before Apparating with the other two men. Draco looked at the house and wondered who their prisoner was. Whoever it was, was putting the Death Eaters through a lot of pain. The screams were piercing Draco's ears. The light almost looked like the light from Avada Kedavra but...it wasn't. It piqued his interest, so against his better judgement, he walked slowly towards the house.

Just as he got to the open door, the light stopped and so did all the screaming. Cautiously, he stepped inside and walked into the kitchen and living room, where the smell of blood and death was overwhelmingly strong. All candles had been extinguished and the room was completely dark except for a faint glowing, green light.

Draco used extra caution so as not to step on the mangled bodies, no matter how much they deserved it, and moved closer to the light. A man standing in the middle of the blood bath, staring at the wall as if paralysed came into focus and Draco gasped as he saw where the light was coming from.

It was coming from his eyes.

Draco stood paralysed in his position, staring at the man. The man was very obviously injured, as his eyes were almost swollen shut, but open just enough to emit the bright light. Other than that, Draco couldn't see the extent of his injuries from the light. He shook himself out of his trance and moved slowly around to the front of the man and gasped once again.

"Harry. Oh, Merlin. What the hell happened?" Even as he looked upon Harry, the light was beginning to fade and it seemed as though he were coming out of his trance like state. He blinked and for the first time, noticed Draco.

"I get my eyes from my mother, Draco. Did you know that?" Draco just managed to catch the other man as he fell to the ground. All sorts of thoughts swarmed through his mind on what to do, but only one seemed to be a good choice. He'd have to bring Harry to Ron and Hermione's. Without another word or glance around, Draco disappeared with Harry. Draco sighed with relief when he ended up in the correct place. He had only been to their house once before and didn't know if he was imagining it right.

"Harry, wake up. You need to walk into Ron and Hermione's by yourself." The eyes fluttered open and looked at the house. Harry pushed himself off of Draco and started stumbling to the house. Draco glanced up at the kitchen window and saw Hermione staring out at them. Hopefully, she wouldn't be able to recognise him. Without waiting for her to come out, he Disapparated with a pop.

Harry was silent for almost five minutes after Draco had told him the story. It was so unbelievable..but yet, it was.

"You brought me back?" Draco nodded his head.

"Why didn't you tell anybody that it was you? I've been going out of my mind trying to piece it all together."

"I couldn't. The story wouldn't have added up if I had lied and I certainly couldn't tell the truth. I'm probably risking Becca's life right now by telling you all this."

"She'll be fine. I'm sure that the Death Eaters aren't paying attention to you anymore. But...thank you for bringing me back. I probably wouldn't have been well enough to do so myself. Draco... are you still under the Imperius?"

"No. I felt it lift off of me after I was brought down here. I think Crabbe may be dead." Harry sighed again and ran a hand through his dishevelled hair.

"For what it's worth... I do believe you." Draco let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you. All I needed was for you to believe me. If nobody else believes it, it won't matter. I know you do."

"Draco, it won't help you stay out of Azkaban if I'm the only one."

"I know that. But I'm saying that if I do end up there, I know that one person believes me. I honestly couldn't think of a better person to have believe me. Believe it or not, I've always wanted your approval." Harry smiled.

"I don't but I'll take your word for it. I'll do everything I can to get you out of here. They won't bring any of you to Azkaban until after you've had a trial." Draco laughed bitterly.

"They won't give us a trial. As far as they're concerned, we're guilty; which the rest of them are, I suppose."

"Not so long as I'm around, you'll get a trial. When that time comes, I'll have Rebecca out and she'll be able to testify for you." Draco drew in a shaky breath and nodded his head while looking at the floor. Harry stood up and pulled him off the floor and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm sorry that you've had to go through all this alone."

"You and me both, huh? We've been alone for the past five years."

"I've been lucky for the past months though. Your luck is still to come. Don't worry about any of this. Let Ron and I take care of it and you just think of the future you have with Rebecca." Draco smiled hopefully and then surprised Harry by hugging him tightly.

"I know you said never to hug you again, but I can't get across in words how grateful I am to you."

"Don't worry. I'll let it go this time," Harry said smiling. "I have to question the Death Eaters now. You'll have to go back to your cell." Harry sent a silver light to the guard and within a minute, the burly man was in the room again, ready to take Draco away. He handled him very roughly.

"Hey! Enough with the man-handling already!" Draco looked back at Harry before he was dragged out the door.

"Do you really think Ron will help?"

"I'm sure of it." Draco then disappeared from view and Harry was left only for a few more minutes before the next person was brought in. He just hoped that Draco wasn't lying to him. Oh, how he would pay if he was.

***

Harry went up to the aurors office just as it was going on two in the morning. The only thought going through his mind was: coffee, and lots of it. The Death Eaters had refused to tell him anything and he had spent the better part of an hour with each one of them, getting absolutely no where. His headache had gone from dull pain to mind numbing pain. Just as he was pouring himself a cup of coffee, Ron came up behind him.

"How'd it go?"

"Either don't talk so loud or give me a bloody headache cure."

"That good, huh?" he asked as he pulled out his wand and placed it at Harry's temple. Harry's eyes fluttered closed as the pain left his head and he smiled a little.

"You're a life saviour, Ronald Weasley." Ron smirked.

"I try. So...did you speak with Malfoy?" Harry dropped unceremoniously into a chair and sighed heavily.

"I asked for him first. He's the only one who would tell me anything."

"So how deep in this was he?"

"I suggest we take this in my office," came a deep voice behind them. They turned around to find Rembers. "You can play back what you recorded of your meeting with him. I'm curious to find this out as well. Weasley filled me on the situation with him." Harry stood up and followed the two other men into Rember's office.

"Have a seat, boys. Potter, get that wand out." Harry sat and pulled out his wand and muttered some words that made the tip of his wand turn blue. Draco's quiet voice filled the room.

_"Harry."_

"Malfoy." A loud sob was heard and then Draco's voice came again. "Please, don't go back to that. Please. You've got to believe me, Harry. I didn't mean to do this. They made me do it...."

The three men sat and listened in silence as the conversation progressed. Ron sat with his mouth hanging slightly open when it came to the part about Rebecca. He had no idea about her, except that she had been Draco's girlfriend. Finally, after almost an hour, the conversation started to come to a close.

_I'm sure he will."_

Harry turned to face Ron who was still sitting as if stunned.

"Will you help, Ron?" He looked up at Harry and bit his lip. Ron was silent for almost two minutes and Harry started to fear that he wouldn't be getting the help that he would so desperately need with this case.

"I'll help."

"Potter, do you have any more evidence besides Malfoy's word that he was under the Imperious?"

"Yes. The Minister said that he saw Malfoy and that it seemed like he was just going through the steps like an obedient house elf. I have it recorded."

"Okay. I want every interview transferred over to my wand and Weasley's wand so that more people can get to them if asked. Only us three will have access to them.

"Now, the only reason I'm going along with this is because Malfoy said that his manor is the headquarters for the Death Eaters. The only thing I am concerned about is getting every last one of them. This Muggle...Rebecca, I'll put that on your list of things to do, Potter. But don't forget the real reason you're there. To get the Dark wizards and witches. Now the next thing we need to plan for is some sort of ambush on the Manor. Since it's after three now, we'll leave it for tomorrow.

"You two should go home; I need to put an ad in the Daily Prophet for more aurors. It's sad that it has come to this. This department has never needed to advertise for people. Potter, do you mind if I drop your name? It might attract more people." Harry groaned inwardly at the thought. He didn't need people working for him that were only there because of who he was. But...if it got people in to help. The more the merrier.

"Go ahead. We need the people. I'll see you tomorrow, bright and early."

"No, you get a good nights rest. We'll need you to be extra sharp. Same goes for you, Weasley."

"Goodnight, sir," the two men chorused and left the office.

"Harry...do you reckon Malfoy is really telling the truth?"

"I don't know. I hope so. There's only way to find out. And she's sitting in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor."

Harry trudged up his stairs to his bedroom. He smiled faintly when he saw Ginny's sleeping form in his bed. He undressed down to his boxers and climbed in bed with her and wrapped his arms around her. She moaned in her sleep and snuggled in to his chest. Harry sighed contentedly and closed his eyes to let sleep come. As tired as he was, he just couldn't fall asleep. Draco's desperate words kept going through his head.

_I need Rebecca back._

Harry looked down at Ginny and thanked every god out there that he still had her. If she had been taken from him for five years....He shuddered at the thought. He wouldn't be able to go on. Draco Malfoy was stronger than he gave himself credit for. Harry had been through quite a bit in his life, but at least he had had a reprieve from it all for the past five years. Draco hadn't. He had lived with the fact that the girl that he loved more than anybody else in the world was being kept prisoner and there was nothing he could do but wait. The Death Eaters may have tortured Harry physically, but he thought that there was nothing worse than when they hit you where it really hurt. When they took the people you loved.

Sirius. When they took Sirius from him.

Draco's situation wasn't all that much different from Harry's. Harry clenched his jaw in anger towards all the Dark wizards. They had no right to do this to people.

_I'll get Rebecca back for you, Draco. Mark my words. I'll get her back._

~*~*~

Harry awoke a couple hours later at seven to Ginny sobbing in his arms. He looked down at her and gently shook her shoulder.

"Ginny? What's wrong?"

"No...please, don't make Harry go. Harry! Please! Don't go! Stay here with me; you'll be hurt if you go!" She again dissolved into tears and buried her face in Harry's chest.

"Gin, wake up. It's just a dream. I'm not leaving you. I never will." He gently shook her shoulder and then hugged her tightly and kissed her head. "Wake up." Ginny looked up into Harry's face and gave a sob of relief.

"Harry! Oh, thank goodness. It was just a dream. I...I dreamt that you..." Her bottom lip began to quiver and more tears rolled down her face.

"Don't think about it anymore, Gin. It was just a dream." He wiped away her tears and kissed her face all over. He then pulled her even closer to him and laid back down with her in his arms.

"What time did you get in, Harry?" she asked.

"I think it was about half past three."

"I'm sorry I woke you. You should go back to sleep." Harry turned her over so that he was looking down on her and pushed hair away from her face. He leaned down and kissed her slowly and passionately. Ginny sighed when he pulled away and ran a hand through his hair.

"What was that for?"

"Do you have any idea how glad I am to know that you're here?" Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm just glad you're here with me." He rolled back over, closed his eyes and yawned loudly. "Maybe I will go back to sleep." He opened up his arms wide. "But you have to stay right here until I fall asleep." Ginny giggled and crawled into his arms.

"That can be done." Within seconds, Harry had once again fallen back to sleep, with Ginny's gentle weight on his chest.

***

"Harry! Wake up! Ron called, you need to get into work."

"Ginny? What time is it?"

"Almost eleven."

"Shit. I didn't mean to sleep this long. Did he say something if happened?" he asked as he rushed to his closet to grab his extra pair or auror's robes.

"He didn't say. He just got up himself when Rembers called him." Harry didn't answer but ran into the shower. After grabbing a couple pieces of toast from Ginny, Harry ran out the door to Apparate to the Ministry. Ron was already there, surrounded by a hoard of at least forty people.

"Ron! What the hell is going on? Who are these people?" Ron fought his way through the crowd and pulled Harry into Harry's office.

"New aurors," he said as he jabbed his thumb in the direction of the door.

"Ex...excuse me? New aurors? Where did they all come from?"

"They are replying to Rembers' ad this morning. Most of them were the people who quit after you disappeared. They had wanted you as their boss. So...your name appears in the paper as a Lieutenant and they came swarming in this morning. They've already filled out the paperwork and Veritaserum has been given to all of them. They just need to go and get their robes and some direction to go in today." Harry stared, dumbfounded at the closed door.

"Wow," he muttered after a few moments. "How many do we have now?"

"Fifty-two. We're thirty-seven up from yesterday."

"Have they all been aurors before this?"

"No. Some of them went through the training but never came in. We better get back out there so you can introduce yourself. Not that they don't know who you are already anyway. Rembers has introduced himself already and has gone for the day. He was here for over twenty-four hours. You're in charge for the day."

"Ron...I don't know if I can do this. I've never directed this many people before."

"You'll be great. And if you need any help, I'm here."

"Thank you. Well, let's go." Harry opened up the door to find the entire crowd, waiting silently for the two to come out. "Good crowd we've got here, Ron. They're completely quiet."

"For you, yeah. They've been like a wild herd of hippogriffs since I got here an hour ago." Harry laughed and shook his head. He stood up on a chair and smiled out at their expectant faces.

"Tell me the truth...How many of you are here because of your love of being an auror?" A couple people raised their hands tentatively. Ron gave a cough that suspiciously sounded like, 'liars!'

"Well," Harry continued with a laugh. "As you may or may not know, my name is Harry Potter, but it's Lieutenant or Lieutenant Potter to all of you. I have to admit, that I am new to this position. I've only been given it yesterday."

"But you should have had it five years ago! And you should have been the Head of the Department already!" yelled out one of the larger men.

"Yes, that was my fault though. And I wouldn't have been ready for this position back then. Right now, as much as I don't really want to say anything, I feel like I must tell all of you the truth." He continued to tell them the shortened version of him being James Newark. "I have told you all of this confidentially, and not one word of it will be breathed outside of this room. I tell you all this because we are to work as a group and the leader of a group can't have secrets of this magnitude. We are here to fight against the same thing. We are here to rid Britain of Death Eaters. To do this, we need to be united. I now have every faith that we will be able to do this. The Death Eaters are leaderless, we are not. The Death Eater numbers are down. Ours are going up. We now outnumber them. They will get what is coming to them." The crowd started clapping and cheering. When it finally died down, Harry continued.

"I hear that you all still need to go and get your robes. So, I ask you to go and pick those out. But afterward, we'll need you back here to discuss the latest happenings. Last night we apprehended a man by the name of Draco Malfoy. Officer Weasley and I, both believe in his innocence. Yes, he did kill three people last night...but we believe he was under the Imperious curse. Malfoy is willing to help us out in any way possible. He has confirmed where the headquarters are for the Death Eaters and that they do have at least one hostage there.

"Mr. Malfoy is to be protected from Azkaban at all costs. Unless of course, evidence comes against him that makes him undoubtedly guilty. He is very valuable to us right now. He will aid us in our plan to get inside the headquarters. Now...enough said for now. Go get your robes." Harry stepped down from his chair and stood next to Ron.

"So, do you have an idea of how we're going to do this?" asked Ron.

"A fuzzy plan, yes. I'll just run with it now. The details will work themselves out." After a few minutes, the group started to make their way back in with their new robes on. Harry and Ron had gone to a large table near the window that had a magical map underneath the glass, showing all of England. There were black spots blinking where there was dark magic going on.

Harry studied the map and wondered where exactly Malfoy Manor was. Hopefully it wasn't unplottable like most things were in the magical world. He leaned in and whispered to Ron.

"I need Draco up here."

"I'll go call down to the guards."

"Thanks." Ron walked away and Harry turned to the assembled crowd of aurors that were gathered around the table. "Sorry for the wait. We'll be starting in a couple minutes once one more person comes." Ron came back and smiled at Harry reassuringly.

"They're bringing him now." Harry nodded his head and tapped his fingers on the glass impatiently. Within the next minute, the door outside was heard opening and everybody turned to see the newcomer. Some people gasped and still some more people glared. Draco didn't meet anybody's eyes and looked down at the floor. The guard led him over to Harry and stopped.

"I'll stay," said the guard as he gave Draco a contemptuous look.

"No, I think we'll be all right here. I don't think he would try something even if he wanted to. He's outnumbered fifty-four to one." The guard didn't look happy to be leaving but he left anyway. Draco looked at Harry gratefully and Harry smiled reassuringly at him.

"Let's get that binding charm off your hands now," said Harry softly and moved around the back of his friend and took the charm off.

"Lieutenant, do you really think that that is safe? I know you believe in his innocence, but he is still a prisoner of the Ministry of Magic and there is always a chance that he is guilty," said one tall, built witch with long brown hair. Harry looked at Draco who was flexing his wrists and looking down at the floor sadly, then he looked back to the witch.

"What's your name?"

"Er - Williams, Leah Williams." Harry smiled kindly at her.

"Well, Officer Williams, I think it to be perfectly safe. He is not armed as his wand was confiscated by this Department and there have only been three people to register this century with the ability of wandless magic. If you recall, Voldemort was one of them. I'm sure Mr. Malfoy here, is not Voldemort. The second was Albus Dumbledore. The third..." Harry waved his hand and conjured up two large plates of rolls. "Help yourself. They're quite good," he said grabbing one and taking a bite out of it. He then handed one to Draco.

"They can't be feeding you that well down there. And for another, everybody...as I told the guard, there are fifty-four of us in the room right now. Malfoy wouldn't be stupid enough to do anything. I'm sorry if any of you have doubts about this; you'll just have to take my word on this one." Draco tapped Harry on the shoulder timidly.

"Harry, what am I doing here?" he asked quietly.

"You need to help us." Harry turned to the crowd and started speaking to everybody.

"We have to form a plan for when we ambush the headquarters of the Death Eaters, a.k.a. Malfoy Manor. To do this, we need Draco. He knows everything there is to know about it, as it was his childhood home. Draco...we need you to tell us everything you know. Starting with if the Manor is plottable. Can you point it out on this map of England?" Draco furrowed his brow and looked all around. An auror raised his hand to ask a question.

"Say your name and then ask from now on. I need to get to know everybody."

"Ross Daniels. Why don't we just Apparate there or Floo there or something? Why do we need to know where it is?"

"Because if my assumptions are correct, we can't just Apparate or Floo there without permission. They will know that they have an intruder and will be ready for us. If we come in by a Muggle car, for instance, they'll be none the wiser."

"But what if they have sentries around the land?"

"That's what we need to find out. Draco, do you know?"

"I'm trying to think. Lucius told me where it was when I was about ten years old when he had had too much to drink. Otherwise, I never would have known. I'm pretty sure that it is about ten kilometres north west of the Muggle town, Kingston upon Hull. It's pretty much cut off from everything but if you did take a car up there, there is a road that runs along the edge of it. You can't see anything from the road though. You've just got to know that it's there."

"Have you ever been on that road?"

"Yeah, plenty of times."

"Okay, we may need to take you out of here in a couple days so that we know the boundaries of the land surrounding the manor. I need ten volunteers to go out to the manor to scope out everything. A raise of hands, please. When I point to you say your name, Ron, write it down." Hands started to raise and one by one, names were called out.

"Brian Salmi."

"Kevin Novis."

"Anna Regro."

"Gina Christensen."

"Joshua Walker."

"Teri Pinkett."

"Carrie Snap."

"Natasha Kettle."

"Shawn O'Brian."

"John Tennor."

"Okay, that'll do. Did you get all that, Ron?"

"Yes."

"All right. Now what you ten will be doing...you'll be going out to the Malfoy Manor with me and possibly Draco, here. If I can pull it off, it would be best since we have no idea where it is. We will be testing the area for any traps, security walls, etc. Draco has told me that any security measures that used to be up when he lived there are now down. They need to be held up by somebody of pure Malfoy blood. And since nobody of Malfoy blood is living there, they are down. And we presume that they haven't been able to put up anything too serious.

"While we are there, we will set up areas around the perimeter so that we can watch. Repellent charms will be put up and masking spells. Your safety while acting as sentry will be guaranteed, unless of course, you give yourself away. I will give out more details to this tomorrow. Be prepared for this tomorrow night. This is when I want to be able to do this.

"Now, this is the hard part for me. I want to get somebody inside. I only need one person for this. If I sent two or three in, it would seem suspicious. The most logical kind of person to send in, is a person who's family has been into the Dark Arts before this. Were any of your parents involved with the Dark Lord?" Everybody started looking around as a person started pushing their way through the crowd.

"Mine were." Draco gasped audibly.

"Pansy?"

"Hello, Draco. It said in the paper that you were arrested for taking part in that attack last night. I didn't believe it for a second, of course. I'll be interested to hear this story later." Harry turned to Ron who had a very confused look on his face. He leaned into Harry and whispered into his ear.

"Did you have any idea that she was here?"

"No, I didn't see her. She has a French accent now. And why is Draco so surprised to see her?"

"She disappeared a couple months before the final battle, remember?"

"No, not really. But okay." Harry turned his attention back to Pansy.

"Miss Parkinson, I presume it's still Parkinson?"

"Yes, it is."

"I wasn't aware that you have had auror training."

"I've been in France these past years. I was an auror for the French Ministry of Magic."

"And what brings you back to London?"

"I decided to come back and see a few people. Namely, Draco. And to get a job as an auror here. Then the ad ran this morning and the article about the attack, and Draco's arrest. So, I came in right away. I'll be willing to go in as an operative for you." Harry considered her for a few moments before speaking.

"The thing that I'm worrying about is: does anybody know where you were and what you were doing with your time away from England?"

"No. I haven't run into anybody from England ever since I left and I had a very useful disguise. So if I had, the person probably wouldn't have known who I was."

"You do realise how dangerous this is? If something were to go wrong, they will probably not hesitate to kill you?"

"I do realise it. I'm willing to do anything to help out. I've already taken Veritaserum and they asked me this. You can look in the records."

"It's not that I don't believe you. I just want to be assured that you know the consequences of going in. I hate doing this to anybody, but we've got to know what goes on in there."

"I'll do it," she said firmly.

"Okay, Pansy, you're my operative for this. Draco and I will fill you in on details in a bit."

"Pansy, don't do this," Draco pleaded. Pansy looked at him through stony eyes, her face set.

"You are not going to change my mind, Draco."

"Oh, Merlin. Harry, there's been another attack," said Ron urgently. Harry spun around and looked where he was pointing.

"Diagon Alley. Haven't they hit there enough? Okay, I want everybody here to respond. Ron, I need to put you in charge for right now. I need to speak with Pansy and Draco privately. If you need me, call me." Ron nodded his head curtly and turned to everybody.

"Okay, everybody! You heard the man! Diagon Alley, now!" Almost all at once, the aurors Disapparated. Draco slumped down into a chair with a huge sigh.

"I hate that. They're all looking at me like I'm guilty." Harry sat down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry about this, Draco. I know how it is to be innocent but to have everybody think you're guilty. I'll get you through this." Pansy was looking between them with a confused look.

"When did you two become friends?" she asked suddenly. "Have I died?" Harry and Draco looked at each other and started laughing hysterically.

"No, Pans, you haven't died. We really are friends," said Draco through his laughter.

"We've been friends since I came back last year. He figured me out when I was talking to myself after my first professional Quidditch game. Damn bastard had me all pissed off at him last night. I thought he had been passing information on me to the Death Eaters by choice." Pansy sat down on the other side of Draco and tried to fix his hair.

"I never believed it for a second. Even when we were in school, I knew that you would never become a Death Eater. I saw how your face would become red and you'd bite your lip when people would make fun of Muggles and Muggle-borns. I've always wondered what made you change your mind though. You never told me."

"Rebecca."

"Rebec...Oh, didn't you say something about a girlfriend named Rebecca who lived in France or something? She went to Beauxbatons?"

"She isn't a witch. She's a Muggle. I lied when Blaise Zabini borrowed one of my books and saw a picture of us two together. I said that she went to Beauxbatons to cover up and she believed me. Then the Slytherin Gossip Queen that she was, she told everybody that I had a girlfriend from Beauxbatons."

"Well...I have to say, I'm surprised. I never thought you of all people would have a Muggle girlfriend. So, what has happened to her?" Draco bit his lip and looked down.

"This is the reason Draco was involved with the Death Eaters. They have been holding her prisoner since only a couple days after the final battle. Lucius and Crabbe took her and Draco has had to do whatever they say. Of course, yesterday, he was under Imperious."

"Oh, Draco. I'm so sorry." Pansy folded her old friend into a hug and kissed his cheek. "She's being held at the manor?" Draco nodded his head dumbly.

"I'll get her out."

"Pansy, it would be best if we waited until we ambush them. We don't want to risk you being caught. Now, you'll have to find a Death Eater contact and get in right away. Do you know of any?"

"Of course. I'm a Slytherin. Most of my old friends are Death Eaters." At that moment, a loud beeping noise filled the room and the torches on the walls turned red.

"Shit, shit, shit. Somebody has breached the building security again." Harry hurried over to the map to see a large blinking black dot covering the Ministry building. Diagon Alley was no longer blinking.

"Pansy, you need to get the hell out of here. If these are Death Eaters coming, we can't risk them seeing you here. Please put on whatever disguise you can and go to Ron in Diagon Alley. I need them here, right now." Pansy Disapparated without a word. It was now only Harry and Draco. Harry looked at him, debating whether or not to give Draco, his own wand. Harry had wandless magic to use.

The door to the large room burst open, revealing five cloaked and hooded figures. Harry tossed his wand to Draco and advanced on the Dark wizards with a sadistic smile on his face.

"If you're sure you want to go through with this boys. Be my guest. It's your funeral."

A/N: Don't forget to review! The line that gave my friends goosebumps was when Harry said, "I get my eyes from my mother, Draco. Did you know that?" Well, I was quite proud of that. I gave somebody goosebumps! :grins: I'm just about to run off and start Chapter thirteen! **Ginny's dream: a premonition? The results from the newest attack from the Death Eaters. The plan to go to the Malfoy manor and set up sites for sentries will be put into action. And I'm thinking of putting in Wormtail's trial in this one. If not this one, it will be in fourteen. Nearing the home stretch here! **


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter. Please don't sue me.

**Chapter Thirteen**

"Remus, could I speak with you?"

"Sure, Ginny. What's on your mind?" Ginny bit her lip and looked down at her feet.

"I don't know how to explain this. I've never really told anybody this before."

"Well, just explain it the best you can."

"Okay, I have these dreams sometimes. They started when I was about sixteen. I never really thought anything about the first one....But then it came true."

"You're a Seer?"

"I suppose I am. The dreams don't come that often, but when they do, they are never good. I'm starting to feel like Cassandra."

"Who's Cassandra?"

"Cassandra of Troy. She was a Seer as well and all she prophesied was death and doom for the city of Troy. Nobody ever believed her and thought her to be mad."

"But nobody thinks you're mad, Ginny."

"I know, but I do." Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Being a Seer doesn't make you mad...Unless of course, you let it. I think it to be a curse, definitely, especially when nothing you see is good. But Ginny, why do you think you're mad?"

"Well, I guess I don't really think so. I'm just really worried. I had another one about Harry last night and I'm about to go out of my mind with worry right now."

"What was it about?"

"I can't really remember the details anymore. I never wrote it down because Harry woke me up from it. I was crying and I suspect I was yelling in my sleep. It was my weirdest dream yet. I don't really know how to explain it. Um...well, my dream self, already knew about something that was going to happen to Harry. In my dream, I had a dream that Harry was at work, alone with....I think it was Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy when the alarm went off. Then Death Eaters came in...This is the part where I'm kind of fuzzy on, but I remember being able to see Harry on the ground and Draco pointing a wand at one of the Death Eaters. Then after my dream self dreamt this, I begged for Harry not to go because he would get hurt. But he didn't listen to me." Remus was silent for a while, considering the dream.

"I know you say that you've had dreams come true before, but this doesn't really sound like a normal one. Usually Seers say that they see the event unfolding before them, not their dream selves dreaming it. It could have just been a normal dream."

"I really don't think it was, Remus. I want to believe it, I've been thinking about it ever since Harry fell back to sleep. And then when he ran out the door, I really wanted to yell to him not to go and that he'd be hurt, but I couldn't get the words out. He was already in such a hurry and I didn't want him worrying about me."

"There's no way to tell until something happens. I wish I could say something more to comfort you. I don't know much about this topic; have you been able to tell when your dreams have come true?"

"Yes. I Saw Harry leaving the Wizarding world. I didn't know how, when, or where to it was going to happen. But I knew that it was. About a half an hour after the battle was over, I got really icy cold, like somebody had just dumped ice water on me, and I collapsed and Saw Harry running away from Hogwarts. It happens every time they come true." Ginny's bottom lip quivered a little and fat tears rolled down her face.

"I don't want this one to come true, Remus. I don't know if he was dead or injured." Remus moved forward and embraced her in a tight hug.

"Ginny, Harry is a powerful wizard. He could get injured, I won't deny that, it's happened before...But no Death Eater will ever be able to kill him."

"Knock, knock! How come nobody was answering the doo....Ginny, what's the matter?" Molly Weasley came bustling into the sitting room where Remus and Ginny were standing in the middle of, hugging. Ginny backed away from Remus and gave him a little smile.

"Nothing, mum. Raging hormones and all that."

"Oh, well those are terrible. I was a wreck when I was pregnant with you. Worse than when I was carrying the boys. Have you forgotten that your doctors appointment is in twenty minutes?"

"No, mum. I'll just go wash my face and then we can leave." She turned back around to face Remus so that she could give him another hug, but before she could do anything, an icy wave swept over her body and she collapsed into Remus' arms.

***

_The door to the large room burst open, revealing five cloaked and hooded figures. Harry tossed his wand to Draco and advanced on the Dark wizards with a sadistic smile on his face._

"If you're sure you want to go through with this boys. Be my guest. It's your funeral."

"Just step aside, Potter. The only person here that we want is Malfoy."

"You think you can just come walking into the auror's office and collect whomever you like? I'm sorry to say that it doesn't work that way. Draco Malfoy is in our custody."

"You know who is in _our_ custody, Malfoy? Your precious Rebecca. You know that charm you put on Potter so that we can listen in to his every day life? The one you told him about yesterday? The one that is still on him? Potter was correct...after you were captured, we didn't give a damn what happened to you; you didn't stop to think that we are still monitoring Potter. We heard you tell him everything. We thought it our personal duty to come and get you so that you can watch Rebecca die. Oh, but don't worry...we'll kill you afterwards. I'm not promising directly afterwards; perhaps I'll let you live long enough to waste away." Draco leapt towards them.

"You bloody bastards!" Harry put his arm out and stopped Draco by hitting him in the chest.

"Don't do anything stupid, Draco."

"They're going to kill her. Even after all the things I've gone through for them. Look at me! I'm in your bloody custody, Potter! All because of them and they're just going to kill her anyway."

"Just come with us now, Malfoy. If you do so calmly, we won't torture her too much before we kill her."

"He is not going anywhere. Do I need to repeat myself? He is in the custody of the Ministry of Magic. He is not to leave until released!"

"Well, pardon me for thinking otherwise. After a little....persuasion, the guards downstairs let us have our friends back." Harry clenched his jaw, the blood pressure steadily rising.

"If you want....I can just refill their empty cells with you five. Or if you put up a fight, the cemetery has some room for you, I'm sure."

"How about we just save you all the paperwork that would come with both of those rather appealing choices." The man raised his wand just as Harry raised his hand to stun them all, but his curse hit Harry first, sending him flying back into a chair, making his own curse hit the ceiling to make bits of it crumble to the ground. Harry tried moving again but found that his entire body was paralysed. He couldn't move from his lying position on the floor. Draco came into his range of vision.

"Can you move, Harry?" All Harry could manage was a low sound in the back of his throat.

"That wasn't the full body bind they used on you." He stood up again and pointed Harry's wand at the approaching Death Eaters.

"Stupefy!" he roared, but the curse never hit them as a well place Cruciatus curse hit Draco square in the stomach and he toppled to the ground next to Harry screaming in pain. One of the hooded figured men bent to pick Draco up and bound him with a binding spell and sat him on a chair. A gag was then placed in his mouth and the five men surrounded Harry. The one that had been speaking the entire time, knelt down next to him.

"Crucio," he whispered quietly. Burning pain ripped through Harry's body. His screams were muffled in his throat and the pain seemed to be intensified ten fold since he couldn't move his body at all. The only muscle he seemed to still have control over were his eyelids. He closed his eyes, hoping to just pass out. Once the curse was lifted, he was still panting, trying to catch his breath, when another curse was thrown at him.

Cuts were being placed all over his body, some as small as paper cuts, some seemed as though an invisible butcher knife were cutting into him. Blood started seeping through his clothes and making them stick to his body. When the cutting finally stopped, the laughter of the Death Eaters filled his ears.

"We'll stop there, Potter. By the time your auror friends figure out that Diagon Alley was just a ruse, you'll have bled to death. We've been considering heading over to your house and make a friendly visit with your precious fiancee Ginny. And that werewolf Remus Lupin. I hear she's pregnant with your baby. It would be fun to make her look at her baby before she died, don't you think? We'll cut open her stomach nice and slow; she'll be wide awake, mind you. Your baby will only be the size of your fingertip, did you know that? They can feel pain as well. Do you think she'd like seeing her own baby ripped from her stomach?" Harry kept his eyes closed and tried to keep calm. Nevertheless, he could feel his body temperature and blood pressure rising. His breathing was becoming even more erratic. They couldn't do that to Ginny. They couldn't kill her; they couldn't kill Remus.

"Then for the werewolf. Maybe we'll kill him the same way we killed your godfather, Sirius Black. Yes, I think that would be good." And Sirius. They killed Sirius. Those stupid bastards. They weren't going to do it again. His entire family would be wiped out. Not that he'd be there to see it. The Death Eaters began laughing once more and started to walk away.

"Get Malfoy," one of them growled. Harry's breathing was coming out in fast puffs now and he could feel his heartbeat pumping vigorously. The hate and anger was burning fiercely through his nerves and veins. It _was_ as if he had fire in him. It felt like it was all escalating to his head. It was all about to explode.

As if from somewhere far away, he felt his arms spring away from his sides and he felt himself loosening. He glided up off the floor and walked towards the men as if on wheels. His eyes were still closed; it was as if a force was pulling him to them. 

"Didn't I say that it was your funeral if you went through with this?" he heard himself say. Although Harry couldn't see them, he sensed the men turn around in surprise.

"Who took that curse off of him? He's not supposed to be able to move," one of them muttered.

"Who cares? He can't do anything to us now. Malfoy had his wand and now it's way over there. Potter is as good as dead." A last surge of anger trembled through Harry's body and his eyes flew open. Emerald light flooded the room. The Death Eaters looked at him with squinted eyes in surprise for a few moments before falling into shrieks of pain. Draco dropped to the ground as the Death Eater holding him fell to the ground in pain. The Death Eaters tore their clothing away from their bodies as if it were burning them. Every inch of their skin was pouring out blood, though no cuts were visible. The bodies started to distort themselves in every possible and impossible position. Again from somewhere far away, as if an echo was calling, Harry heard Ron's voice.

"Harry! Stop!" Draco's voice came as a distant echo.

"No, Ron! Don't move any closer to him. It's dangerous. He might not know who you are and turn on you." Harry stared murderously at the five writhing forms on the floor, not even thinking about what he was doing. His eyes had to stay open. There was no time for blinking.

The skin upon their bodies stopped bleeding and started to bubble and melt off of them. The screams of pain became more intense and finally stopped after the sound of hundreds of bones breaking rent the air.

Harry's breathing slowly became regular and he was vaguely aware of his eyes emitting light, the same colour of his eyes. He stood motionless, staring at the act that he had just performed. Slowly, the light began to fade and Ron's voice sounded near him.

"Harry?" He blinked and looked at Ron.

"I get my eyes from my mother, Ron." Everything went black.

***

"That's the most gruesome thing I've ever seen. Do you know what the hell happened?"

"No. I have no idea how he got to that stage. Those guys put a paralysing curse on him. He should never had been able to move by himself." Harry groaned at the throbbing in his mind. Everything was blurry when he opened his eyes, but his glasses were still on his face. Ron's form was visible right next to Harry. He reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Ron...they got Draco. They took him. There was nothing I could do. And they released the Death Eaters that we caught yesterday. Diagon Alley....it was a ruse. They said I was going to bleed to death." Harry's eyes widened in horror as he remembered what they had said that they were going to do to Remus and Ginny. He stood up abruptly and started to walk for the door but Ron stopped him.

"Where are you going?"

"Ginny, Ron! I have to go save Ginny! They said....they said they were going to make her watch them cut out our baby! I can't let them!" he yelled hysterically. He didn't care that the entire office had gone silent from their work and was watching him.

"Harry, don't you remember what happened? Those men aren't going to be able to hurt Ginny anymore."

"But they got away!"

"No, they didn't."

"You got them?"

"No...you did. You don't remember?" Harry shook his head.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ron gently turned him around and led him over to where a group of aurors were kneeled, discussing something.

"Move out of the way!" Ron ordered. The group scrambled to get out of the way and the scene that met Harry's eyes made him stop and his eyes widened and he backed up into Ron. Bile started to rise up in the back of his throat.

"I...I di....didn't do that."

"Yeah you did. We saw you doing it."

"But...I have no memory of this!" he exclaimed. "I didn't!"

"Harry!" called Draco's voice. Harry turned wildly around and found him sitting in a corner.

"Draco! You're all right." Draco scowled.

"Yes, but these idiots think I helped them out and not you. They won't undo the binding charm on me."

"You did help me though."

"I know. Harry, you did the same thing you did in that house in Wales. Except this time, I saw it happen."

"I did the same thing?"

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"It's weird. I'm not even sure. Harry...you're bleeding all over. You need to get looked at." Harry looked down at himself and found cuts all over himself. The only place untouched was his face. Draco looked around Harry's body and then smiled up at Harry.

"Ginny just ran in here, looking extremely healthy. Although a little red rimmed around the eyes." Harry turned around to see Ginny staring with wide, horrified eyes at the five bodies on the ground. She pointed at them and tried working her mouth for a few moments before she could get anything out.

"Harry's not one of those, is he?" she asked with tears apparent in her voice.

"Ginny," he said weakly and walked to her. She let out a sob and threw herself on him. He let out a cry of pain as she opened up a couple of his cuts even more.

"I'm sorry. What...Harry, you're cut all over."

"Death Eaters. He dropped to his knees and placed his cheek against her stomach. "You're still pregnant?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Never mind." Ginny knelt down on her knees in front of Harry and took his face in her hands.

"You're all right." Harry wanted to ask her how she knew to come and see if he was, but he was started to feel out of it from all the blood he was losing. Ginny showered his face with kisses as his head started to roll about on his shoulders. Any sense he had when he woke up was now flowing away with his blood.

"Harry, what's the matter?"

"Lots of blood came out of me. So...dizzy....and....weak." Ginny shrieked as Harry fell the rest of the way to the floor. Ron walked over and picked up his friend.

"I'll Apparate with him over to St. Mungo's." Ginny stood up angrily and rounded on her brother.

"You saw all those cuts all over him! Why didn't you bring him right when he got them!"

"I wasn't here when he got them. We've only been here for ten minutes."

"Still! He needed care immediately!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do now? Do you think you could stop yelling for one minute so that we can Apparate to the hospital? I promise you can yell at me there. Harry isn't exactly a little boy. He's pretty heavy. And as we're speaking, he's losing even more blood." Ginny backed down sheepishly.

"Fine. Take him now." The two Apparated to the hospital and he was immediately taken in by the doctors. Ginny called Remus while Ron called Hermione. They had decided not to inform the entire Weasley family. The last thing they needed at the moment was a jungle of people. They would be called after Harry was awake and feeling better. The four didn't have long to wait until a doctor walked in to see them on Harry's condition. When the doctor walked in, Ginny was curled up on Remus' chest with tears still running down her face. Ron and Hermione were looking down at their son, Harry Jr., who was giving it his all to crawl but just couldn't seem to get anywhere. He'd just end up rocking back and forth on his hands and knees. He had grown to be a chubby little boy with thick, light red hair atop his head and his blue eyes had turned to a brown, like Hermione's. "You are Mr. Potter's family?" asked the doctor.

"Yes," chorused all four at once. The doctor gave a smile.

"As you may have seen, he suffered from cuts all over his body; some deep, some shallow. You're very lucky that you brought him in when you did; I'd hate to say what may have happened to him if he had lost any more blood. We healed all his cuts and they're should be no scars present. He will be a little weak for a day or so, but other than that, he'll be fine."

"Did he wake up yet?" asked Ginny anxiously.

"He did as we were healing his cuts but he fell asleep. Whatever happened drained his energy completely. You may go in and see him if you like but I advise you not to wake him." The doctor turned to walk out but turned back around as if he had made a decision.

"If you don't mind my asking....the nurse and I....well, we noticed that Mr. Potter didn't have a scar like a lightening bolt on his forehead; isn't he supposed to?" The four exchanged worried looks. Harry hadn't told them what to say if this ever came up. Everybody was silent for a few moments before Ron tentatively spoke up.

"Well...he did have a scar before," he started slowly. "But it disappeared. I'm not exactly sure if he wants everybody to know why."

"I don't think he does right now either," said Remus. "I believe he plans on telling everybody after he does er - a few things."

"Oh, okay. We were just wondering if it really was him. You may go see him." The doctor walked away and the four exchanged glances again.

"What does he want us to say if that comes up again?" asked Hermione.

"Dunno," said Ron. "Let's go." Hermione picked up her son and then followed her three companions out of the waiting room. They found Harry already awake when they walked in. He smiled happily at them all.

"Not too worried about me, I hope!" he exclaimed. Ginny burst into tears and ran to him.

"I knew it was going to happen, Harry. I just knew it." Harry furrowed his brow and was about to ask how she knew when Remus started shaking his head no, and mouthing, 'don't ask.' So he just settled with hugging her and smoothing her long hair.

"Ginny, I'm all right. They just told me that I could be released in a few hours, as soon as they know that I'm out of the woods completely." When Ginny had let go, Hermione came and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek Harry then turned to Ron.

"Who's in charge of everybody now? Did Rembers go in?"

"Yeah, he's in, but he expects me to go back in about an hour."

"Do you know if he was...mad about what I did?"

"Mad?" said Ron incredulously. "Why in the world would he be mad? He was disappointed that he hadn't been there to see you do that. Who knows if you'll ever do that again. As disturbing as it was...it was completely amazing. I've never seen anything like it."

"What exactly did I do? I don't remember anything after they told me what they were going to do to Ginny and Remus."

"What were they going to do to us?" asked Remus.

"Er - nothing that I really want to repeat right now. So....what happened?"

"I don't know if I can really explain all that well. When I got there with the rest of the aurors, you were staring at the Death Eaters with the light shining on them. I've never seen you look so murderous, Harry. It was a little chilling to tell you the truth. It was worse than the night when Sir...well, when Sirius died. The really weird thing though was that Draco was sitting right in the middle of the them and should have been getting the full blow of what you were giving the others; but the light was making a wide berth around him, like you meant to miss him. Obviously you did."

"So then it _is_ something to do with my eyes. I didn't really want to believe Draco when he told me that."

"Harry, there's something else. I remember from when I listened to your conversation with Draco yesterday, he said that when you came to in the house in Wales, you looked at him and said, 'I get my eyes from my mother, Draco. Did you know that?' You said the same thing to me. Only it was just, 'I get my eyes from my mother, Ron.' and then you passed out." Harry felt somebody staring at him intently and turned to see Remus looking at him with his mouth hanging open slightly. His eyes were slightly glazed over as if he were remembering something.

"Something the matter, Remus?" He shook out of his reverie and really looked at Harry.

"No, it's nothing," he said nervously.

"Remus." He sighed and bit his lip.

"You really do get your eyes from your mother, Harry."

"I know. That's what everybody says. They're just as green as hers were."

"Yes, they are. But she did the same thing with her eyes as you do. From what I just heard, it's exactly the same. I'm guessing the bodies of the Death Eaters were burnt and they bled, and the bones broken but no actual evidence of them being broken besides them being disfigured?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Ron. "They were bleeding from their pores and then after they stopped bleeding, the skin started to bubble and melt off. Then the bones cracked but from what the aurors could tell, they weren't actually broken, just bent in unreal positions, deforming the body." Remus nodded his head gravely.

"That happened with Lily as well. She was an auror with James and it only happened a couple times with James as witness. He could never tell what made her do it and she could never tell either because she could never remember. Just like what's happening with Harry. He inherited whatever trait it is from her."

"But...but what if I end up hurting somebody I don't want to hurt?"

"Don't worry about that. Lily never showed any of these signs around us. Only when she was working against Death Eaters." The small group was silent for a while with only Harry Jr. making noise once in a while. Harry spoke so suddenly that everybody jumped.

"I don't remember killing Voldemort." Everybody looked at him through narrowed eyes.

"Then how do you know you killed him?" asked Hermione.

"Because I was the only one there when he was still alive and then when I came to and he was lying on the ground, dead, I was still the only one. My eyes were glowing. I think I may have killed him with my eyes." A knock came at the door and a doctor came in smiling.

"I'll just check you over one more time, Mr. Potter and then you'll be ready to go."

Everybody waited outside as the doctor checked Harry once more. After about ten minutes, the doctor came out and told them that Harry was free to go just as soon as he got dressed. Harry walked out of his room and looked at Ron.

"Are you going back in to work now?"

"Yes, as soon as we get out of here, I will be."

"Good. I'm coming with you."

"No! Harry, you need to rest!" exclaimed Ginny.

"She's right, Harry. You can come into work again with me tomorrow; for right now, just go home with Ginny and Remus. The doctor said that you'd be weak for a couple days."

"Fine," Harry replied grudgingly. "But no one is stopping me from going in tomorrow. We have things to do. And Ron...I had to send our operative away when the alarms went off and told her to go and find you in Diagon Alley. Did she find you?"

"Yes, she did. She was the one who told me that there were Death Eaters at the Ministry."

"Where did she go?"

"To find some contacts. She said she'd be back when she had something."

"Good. Shit, Ron...I have a listening charm on me. Take it off."

"Malfoy told me already. It's off."

"Thank Merlin. It would have been kind of suspicious, me talking about an operative. Well, let's go. I am kind of tired and could do with some food."

Remus, Ginny, and Hermione took Harry home moments later while Ron Apparated back to the Ministry. Hermione gave Harry Jr. to Harry and helped Ginny make dinner for Harry and Remus. The two men went into the sitting room and sat across from each other. Harry Jr. cooed and laughed in Harry's lap, reaching for his godfather's hair and tugging on it playfully. Remus smiled and chuckled softly.

"You know, you used to do that to Sirius. You'd tug on his hair all the time. Lily would love it when he came over because it always put you to sleep. She had an awful time of it when he wasn't at Godric's Hollow. I think it may have been the long hair." Harry smiled and set his godson on his shoulders so that he could go at it with his hair.

"I didn't know that. Didn't mum have long hair as well?"

"Yes. We could never figure out why you liked Sirius's hair so much. I think it was just what you liked most about him. All that long hair on a man." Harry smiled weakly and pried Harry's tiny hands from his hair and sat him on his lap again. Hermione walked in with a bottle of milk in her hands.

"Could you feed this to him, Harry? It's time for him to eat and go to bed."

"Yes." He wrapped the baby in a blanket and cradled him in his arms and fed the bottle to him. He started to hum softly and rocked him. Hermione looked at them beaming.

"You're going to make a wonderful father, Harry."

"You think so?"

"How could you not be? You're a natural. It took Ron two weeks to learn how to do what you just did now. And that's the easy stuff. Dinner will be ready in a little bit."

"I think I'll go see if I can help them with anything," said Remus as he got up to follow Hermione into the kitchen. Harry continued rocking his godson, humming a tune that he couldn't quite remember hearing consciously. He wondered if perhaps his mother had ever sung it to him. It always came to him when he was feeling lonely or just needed to be comforted. When the bottle was emptied, Harry set it aside and brought the bundle closer to his body, watching the brown eyes flutter close; both Harrys, grown man and baby, completely oblivious to the two women standing in the doorway watching them.

***

Harry went into the office the next day after lunch, feeling completely refreshed from his long night of sleep. Although he did still feel a bit dizzy from all the blood he had lost. When he walked into the office, every auror was waiting for his arrival and started applauding him. He stopped in his tracks and looked around confused. Rembers came up to him and slapped him on the back.

"That was a damn fine job you did yesterday."

"But...I didn't stop them from doing anything. They got our prisoners."

"You stopped them from taking Malfoy and killing you. You two are the most important people in this case. Malfoy because he has so much information...you because you're just so damn good at what you do."

"Oh, well, thank you. Well...what's going on here now?"

Rembers began filling him on everything that had been going on. Four aurors had been sent down to the holding chambers to act as guards until they found replacements. Fifteen more had been sent out on normal Magical Law Enforcement business. All that had to be planned out was Malfoy Manor, which Harry decided would still take place that night. He decided to put on ten more people so that the sentries would get more rest in-between shifts.

"All right everybody. I need ten more volunteers to be sentries at the Malfoy Manor. This second group with be the day shift. Step forward and say your name if you want to help."

"Ross Daniels."

"Leah Williams."

"Sarah Maki."

"Nick Perry."

"Joe Mulvey."

"Tig Matthews."

"Aeneas Cleary."

"Luke di Bricassart."

"Meghan O'Malley."

"Alice Dean."

"Great! That's all we'll need. The rest of you will be here in the office with Ron and me. All of you that are going, come with me, you too Ron." The large group of twenty-two people walked over to the table with the map of England. Harry walked around to the part of England where Kingston upon Hull was and pointed at it.

"Kingston upon Hull. This is what we'll be doing...."

At nine-thirty that night, Harry made his way down to the holding cells. He was dawned in plain black robes for the occasion. The auror symbol on the auror's robes was too bright since it was yellow. They needed to have absolutely no colour on their clothing. Everybody who wore glasses needed to get contacts so that no light reflected off of them. They would also need hooded cloaks to cover their heads. And since it was so cold, it would be no problem for them to have them.

"Lieutenant Potter," said one of the aurors who was acting as guard. "Have you come to pick up Malfoy?"

"Yes, I need him right away."

"I'll be right back."

"Thank you." Harry then waited for a few minutes before he saw Malfoy's distinctive hair coming down the darkened hallway. He looked up at Harry and his face immediately brightened on recognition.

"Harry! Thank Merlin you're okay. Nobody would tell me if you were okay after you had been brought to the hospital or not. What's going on?"

"We're going out to Malfoy Manor tonight. Remember? I said that we would need you to get there. I need to take you upstairs and get you a change of robes and cloak...and I think I may have to darken your hair for tonight. I could see you coming down that hallway." Harry then took Draco by the elbow and led him up to where all the aurors were waiting to leave. He gave him a black pair of robes and cloak and left him in the bathroom to change. When he came out, Harry looked at his dishevelled hair. His hair was still light but it seemed to have darkened since his arrest. Prisoners weren't usually allowed the luxury of a real bathroom so Harry credited it to that. He waved his hand over Draco's hair and it immediately turned black.

"Nobody would even be able to recognise you, Draco."

"This is terrible, Harry. You better hope you can get my hair back to its normal colour."

"Don't worry so much. Come on. I need to Apparate you with me." Harry looped his arm through Draco's and turned to everybody else.

"All right. You know where to go. Let's get this over with." Harry then disappeared with Draco at his side and reappeared in a small office that held only two desks and another private office. Torches were flickering on the walls along with a large fireplace. It gave the room a nice warm glow.

"Lieutenant Potter, is that you?" asked a woman's voice. Harry spun around with his arm still looped in Draco's and saw a very beautiful woman with curly brown hair down to her shoulders. She was just a little shorter than Harry and had sparkling amber eyes. He held out his hand and shook her hand.

"Yes, I am. You can call me Harry. You would be...Trisha Niemo, Head of the Department here?"

"Yes. Please call me Trish." Popping sounds surrounded them and soon the room was overflowing with aurors.

"Wow, you've brought a lot of people."

"Can't be too careful."

"I'm assuming that this is Draco Malfoy? He looks a lot different from his pictures."

"Oh, well we had to change his hair colour. You could see him in a dark room with no windows. His hair is that blonde." Trish smiled warmly at him and held out her hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Malfoy. My entire family follows the Cannons. They were so happy to know that you're innocent. My father was really disappointed when you switched to chaser. He can't stand James Newark." Harry and Draco exchanged smiles. Harry laughed.

"Who can? That guy is a bastard," he said still laughing.

"He is. I haven't been able to stand him since he came on to the Cannons," replied Draco smiling broadly.

"Oh, he can't be that bad," said Trish. "He is quite attractive."

"And that's about it. He has no brains to account for," said Draco.

"I beg to differ! He is quite intelligent!" exclaimed Harry.

"Keep telling yourself that," muttered Draco. Harry rolled his eyes and turned back to Trish who was eyeing Draco appreciatively.

"Could we go out to the cars now?"

"Yes, follow me." They pushed their way through the large crowd out into a Muggle street where four cars were waiting. Harry put Draco into the front seat of one and got into the drivers seat. The interior of all the cars had been enlarged to fit at least eight people but only three people got into the back seat with Harry and Draco. The rest separated themselves into the other three cars. Trish leaned on the window of the driver side window and looked in at Harry and Draco.

"I have no idea what you guys are up to, but good luck with whatever it is. I don't know if I'll be here when you get back but just park the cars where they are right now. They will always be here for your use until you're done with this mission."

"Thanks, Trish. We'll see you."

"Bye, Harry. Bye, Draco."

Harry put the car into gear and pulled away from the curb. The lights of the other cars were following just behind him. He turned to Draco and smirked.

"What? I don't like that look," he said.

"She liked you, Draco."

"No, she didn't."

"Yes, she did. Didn't you see that look she was giving you?"

"The kind of look that says, 'too bad you're a Death Eater. You would have been good in the sack?'"

"You're so pessimistic. She obviously knows you're innocent, she told her family that you were."

"Shut up and drive, Potter. Even if she were interested, I'm not. I've got another woman on my mind."

"I know, _Malfoy._ I'm just trying to lighten the mood here a little bit." Harry turned his eyes to his rear-view mirror to see the three faces that sat in the back.

"And who are my three riders back there?"

"Joe Mulvey."

"Meghan O'Malley."

"Gina Christensen."

The rest of the short ride was spent chatting amiably with the three aurors in the back seat. All three of them seemed to have no problem with Draco at all. In fact, they were keen on knowing what it was like to play for the Cannons and directed all their questions about it towards Draco, even though they knew that Harry played for them as well. Draco seemed genuinely happy to have something to get his mind off of what they were about to do.

As their destination neared, the occupants of the car fell silent, waiting for Draco to tell them to pull over. All too soon for all of them, he told Harry to stop. He drove a little further than was necessary to find a good place to hide the cars. A driveway came into view and he pulled into it. An abandoned house was at the end of it and he figured that it was the best place that they were going to find. The rest of the cars pulled up beside Harry's and stopped. Harry laughed at the confused expressions on the peoples faces as they looked up at the run down house.

He got out of the car and went to the nearest car and knocked on the window. It was rolled down and he leaned on the door.

"Are you going to get out of the car or are you just going to sit looking at that house?"

"I thought it was Malfoy Manor. Not a run down shack."

"It is Malfoy Manor. It's across the road. This is just where we are parking. Come on. We need to go." Harry stood up and found that everybody else had been smart enough to figure it out and were climbing out of the cars.

"Okay, everybody!" Harry said in a loud whisper. "We need to split up into groups. We'll have three groups of five and one with seven. The three that were in my car, you'll be with Draco and I. You, you, and you will be coming with me," he said as he pointed to Tig Matthews, and Aeneas Cleary who were both extremely large men. "The rest of you, go with the people who were in your cars. Draco, lead the way. I'll give further instructions when we get to the land." Harry and the rest of the aurors followed Draco down the driveway and to the right. They ran down the road a little way before turning left into the woods. Draco pointed to a large tree that was some ten feet away from them.

"That's where the traps always started, it's where our land begins. These trees go on for about a half a kilometre before the land was cleared away for all the buildings and the actual manor."

"How wide is your land?"

"I think it was about a kilometre. Again, it starts from the tree and goes down that way and that way." He pointed to the left and straight forward as he spoke. "Woods surround the entire property." Harry turned to the rest of the group and surveyed them for a little bit. All of them were separated into their groups.

"Okay, you three groups will go to the left. You'll have to decide amongst your groups which of you will be going the furthest around the perimeter. You'll set up a watch point where no one will be able to see you and make sure to put up plenty of disillusionment and shielding charms. Anything you can think of that will help you out if any Death Eaters should walk upon your hiding places. The group that goes the furthest, make sure you go around to the opposite side of the manor and set up camp there. We want to be out of here before daybreak. And not all of you will be leaving. A group of two or three will be staying. The rest of you will leave, go to the cars and drive back to Kingston Upon Hull. I may have it arranged so that you can just stay at that house. You should go now. And be careful....we don't know what kind of traps have been set up. Good luck." The three groups of five that Harry had pointed to started off to the left and could be heard and seen doing spells to check if there were any traps. The only thing that was giving them away was the light from their wands.

"Now our groups will be going straight. My group will be going further around the perimeter. I hope my members don't mind..." All five shook their heads. "All right then. Let's go." Harry's group took the lead, with Harry and Draco in the front. Harry had once again given Draco his wand and was using wandless magic himself. As they walked, they left a trail that only they would be able to distinguish so that they could get back safely. After about twenty minutes of walking and breaking traps, Harry started to become restless. It seemed like there should be something happening. It felt almost like when he had been in the third task in the Tri-wizard tournament in the fourth year. Nothing was happening and it was making him feel uneasy.

Still they continued walking with Draco in the lead. After a while, Harry told the second group to stop and set up camp in a dense spot of trees. There was an overhang that would do well as a protection from the weather. Barely one minute after the groups separated, two popping noises sounded in the clearing just beyond the trees. Harry stopped and pulled on Draco's arm to make him stop. The rest of the aurors stopped just in time to avoid a collision with their Lieutenant.

Harry strained his eyes in the dark and saw two forms moving toward the trees. They apparently had Apparated to the line of trees.

"Death Eaters," he said quietly. "Get behind those trees, quick!" The group of seven hurried quickly but quietly behind a dense patch of trees and bushes and ducked down. Harry parted the bushes a bit to look through at the Dark wizards.

"I have no idea what he was talking about. There isn't anybody out here," said one of them with a deep voice.

"I think his detectors need to be fixed," came a woman's voice.

"Pansy," Draco breathed.

"Why don't you go back, Goyle. I'll have a look around. I'm sure I won't find anything."

"But what if you do?"

"I'll be able to handle it. Don't worry."

"Send a signal if you need help, Pansy. I'll come back straight away." Goyle moved in and tried to kiss her but she brushed him away.

"Really, Greg. I thought I told you while we were at Hogwarts that I'm not interested in you." He backed up angrily.

"Still hung up on Malfoy, are you? Get a grip on yourself! He's locked up and going to Azkaban. You'll never see him again. It's time to move on Pans."

"Even if it is, I'm not about to with you." Goyle growled low in his throat and Disapparated. Pansy moved closer to their hiding spot.

"Who's there?" she whispered. Harry and Draco got up at the same time and moved around to her. Harry lowered his hood to reveal his face.

"How's it going, Pansy? They let you in with no problems?"

"Yeah, I got in right away. Don't you have Draco here?" Draco lowered his hood and hugged her tightly.

"I hate seeing you acting like a Death Eater. They didn't give you that awful mark, did they?"

"No. I think they want me to get on Lieutenant Potter's good side. Gawd, Draco. What the hell happened to your hair?" He scowled and looked at Harry.

"He did it. My hair is too much of a give away I guess."

"Pansy, are they detecting our people out here?"

"Yeah, I'll convince them that their detectors are faulty. I'll break them when nobody is around. Every other group is set up already. You're the only ones still on the move. If you go about one hundred metres that way, you'll find the closest group to you." Harry looked right, the way she had pointed and stared into the darkness.

"Okay, we'll go halfway to them then. It's about an hour until sunrise. We'll have to hurry. You should go back to the Manor now. Be careful, Pansy."

"I will." Harry began walking with the other five aurors behind him. Then he realised that Draco hadn't followed him. He stopped abruptly and turned around. Draco was staring out at the Manor whose windows were all flickering with faint light. Every once in a while a dark form would move in front of a window. Pansy was still there, looking at her old friend.

"Pansy," he said suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen her?"

"Yes. I snuck down there when I first got here. I told her that you were in the middle of a plan to get her out."

"Did she understand?"

"Yes, I think so. She was a little out of it at the time but she smiled when I mentioned you.....She really is beautiful, Draco. And she loves you a lot. I can tell." Harry noticed a small crack in her voice when she said how Rebecca felt about Draco. It made him wonder how long Pansy had loved Draco without it being returned. Draco turned to her with a small smile on his face and kissed her on the cheek.

"For what it's worth...I'm sorry," he said softly. Pansy shook her head and looked down with unshed tears in her eyes.

"Don't apologise, Draco. It's not your fault you never loved me." She reached up and ran a hand through his black hair. "Hurry up and get out of here so that you can change that awful black hair to your natural colour." She kissed him lightly on the cheek and Disapparated. He stood staring at the spot where she had just stood.

"Draco," Harry called softly. "We need to go." He jerked out of his trance and turned to Harry and pulled his hood up.

"Right. Let's get this over with. You said sunrise is in an hour." Draco fell into step beside Harry, every once in a while casting a spell trying to determine if there were any traps. The sky was starting to lighten on the eastern horizon that stood to their left. They were still twenty metres from their destination. Harry stopped at a place where the aurors would be easily hidden.

"This is as far as we're going to be able to go. We're still further from the other camp than I would have liked but the sun is already rising and four or five of us still need to make the trip back." The group set about making a suitable place to stay with disillusionment charms, shields and heating charms. They were done a mere ten minutes later and were grouped around Harry.

"Two or three of you need to stay. Who's going to take the first shift today? You'll need to stay until nightfall when the others will come. Luckily the sun falls earlier at this time of year. So...who are my lucky volunteers?"

"I will," said Aeneas Cleary.

"I will as well," offered Joe Mulvey.

"Okay, it'll just be you two today. The other three will relieve you later." Harry then conjured up a bag full of food and some blankets. "I noticed that nobody brought blankets. Just in case you get cold. You'll find two thermos's of coffee in there. You'll have to bring your own food when you come back tomorrow morning. All right. We need to get going." The morning sky was now tinged with pink and they could now see each others faces more clearly. Though it was still difficult. The three aurors that were leaving followed Harry and Draco at a quick walk back the way they had just come. Their way back was easier since they had taken down all traps along the way so they were able to run. They were joined by two other aurors when they passed their camp and within fifteen minutes of joining up, they were at the road again. Faintly in the back of Harry's mind, he wondered why he could smell the acrid scent of burning flesh. Without being cautious, they ran up the driveway to the abandoned house.

There they were met by a sight that made their hearts jump into their throats.

**A/N: Oh, I am evil. :grins: Sorry if this chapter was a bit boring...I'm getting to the climax here. And just if you're wondering, I did write in Wormtail's trial in this chapter, but I took it out. I pasted it onto a blank page just in case I want to use it in a later chapter, but I don't know if I am anymore. If you want to see it, just tell me in a review. If I go the way I'm planning, it may have to be more towards the end. I think it's looking like there may be a couple chapters over fifteen. That had been my original plan...but it looks differently now that I'm to this point. Anywho, please review! I would be ever so grateful to you! Thank you to all the people who have given me the sweetest reviews ever. It makes me so happy!! :) **


	14. Chapter Fourteen

_Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Harry Potter. I'm poor, don't sue me._

**A/N: I'm so so so so sorry for the long wait. But well, shit happens. _Major_ writer's block, the hailstorm of plot bunnies, brother-in-laws killing your dog, grandparents dying, piles and piles of homework, (which I should be doing now), weekend trips, and tons of other things besides. But I'm sure none of you care, and you're all saying, get over it! Finish the damn story! Trust me... I want to get this done too. Even if it does make me sad to say I'm almost done.**

This chapter is shorter than normal but if I would have gone any further, it would have been a cliff-hanger, and as many of you have pointed out, I have a lot of those. I thought I'd be nice for once. ::grins:: Oh well, this one is still thirteen pages long - about the length of the first chapters. Oh, and chocolate frogs to everybody who has reviewed. I appreciate it muchly! So without further rambling, I give you chapter fourteen of Changing Face.

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen**

_Faintly in the back of Harry's mind, he wondered why he could smell the acrid scent of burning flesh. Without being cautious, they ran up the driveway to the abandoned house._

There they were met by a sight that made their hearts jump into their throats.

Five forms were hanging from trees and alight with fire. It took Harry a moment to process that those forms were the bodies of five of his aurors. Sickness rolled over him and he fought off nausea. He could hear the startled cries and screams of the people around him. Draco had grabbed his arm tightly and seemed to not be breathing.

"Harry... oh, Merlin. One of them is still screaming and moving. She's alive," he whispered, horrified.

And Harry realised that the screaming he heard was not from the people on the ground. It was from a woman in the tree. But as soon as he realised this, she stopped and was still, the flames still licking her body. He swallowed and finally came to his senses and walked forward to put the flames out. He held up his hands and sent jets of water at three of the bodies and extinguished the fire while two other people did the same with their wands. They were then levitated to the ground and laid carefully out. There was no recognising these people. Their skin was completely gone and bones were now showing.

Harry looked around at his living aurors and pointed at two of them, not caring what their names were at the moment.

"You two, go look around the perimeter of this land. See if there is anybody there. Be careful, they might take you by surprise if there is somebody."

Draco came and stood next to Harry again and stared down at the bodies in horror.

"Do you think they're trying to be funny or something? They hate Muggles. Muggles used to burn wizards. Now they are burning wizards. Irony at its worse."

"I'd say," Harry whispered faintly.

The two aurors Harry had sent out came back and said that there was nobody hiding in the woods. Harry's mind immediately went into a mode where he had no control over it. He didn't remember telling somebody to Apparate to the office in Hull so that they could get a coroner for five people. He didn't remember telling three people to stay with the bodies and he certainly didn't remember driving back to Hull and then Apparating back to the Ministry in London. To all appearances, he was in control, but in actuality, he was falling apart.

This fight against the Death Eaters was taking its toll on him. They seemed to know what they were doing. Wear down Potter until he can't go on anymore and then we'll get it. It seemed to be their plan. Some people would say that he was weak for wearing down so quickly. But Harry figured he would hex them if anybody said that. He had been fighting this his entire life. And from the looks of it, it would never go away.

Harry wearily walked into his office, shut the door and sunk down into his chair. Even with his hands over his face, Ron's voice didn't surprise him. He hadn't noticed his friend sitting in his office when he walked in but he could sense him.

"All right there, Harry?"

He looked up wearily into his friends face and leaned back in his chair. "Ron?"

"Yeah?" Harry sighed and looked up at the ceiling, giving the impression that it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

"Will this ever be over? Will I ever get to live the life I've always wanted? I just... I just want a family with no worries about Voldemort and Death Eaters. I want to be able to teach my kids how to fly in the backyard without worrying. I want normal. Is there even a such thing?"

"I think so. There is a normal, but since you have yet to experience it, it doesn't seem like a reality. Harry, you must never give up hope that this will be over. We'll beat them, you and Ginny will get married, have your baby, and then have even more babies. You'll be able to teach your kids how to fly.... though I doubt they'll need to be taught. They'll probably be reaching for those broomsticks the moment they get out of the womb."

Both men smiled and laughed a little. "I hope so, Ron. Merlin, do I ever hope so."

*~*~*

The next two days passed without any significant events. Harry continued going into work and making plans for a future ambush on the Death Eaters, and collecting information on their activities at Malfoy Manor. It seemed as though they had sneaked in a few prisoners by the cover of night. What was odd, was that nobody had filed a missing persons report, so they had nothing to go on. Pansy Parkinson was currently doing an excellent job as an undercover agent. She had disabled all charms working against the aurors in the Manor without being too obvious. The charms were now irreparable. They had been smashed into bits and a couple well placed charms made them so that no more magic could be placed on them. All in all, Harry was happy with the way things were going. With all the activity going on, he almost forgot about Wormtail's trial on Saturday. Almost.

On the morning of, Harry's house was bustling with people running about. Remus, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were there helping Harry with anything that he may need help with. Which was mainly moral support. Without them, he would have gone on a rage. Just thinking of Wormtail was enough to make his blood boil. The only one of the five adults that was not going was Hermione, since she had a baby that needed to be cared for. With all of them dressed in their best robes, they Disapparated with a small pop to the Ministry of Magic to witness Wormtail's conviction.

The room that it was being held in, was much like the room that Harry had fallen into when he had been looking into Dumbledore's pensieve in his fourth year. There was a chair with magical ropes attached, waiting for the prisoner to be brought in. And hundreds of seats for people to sit to watch the proceedings. Harry took a seat in the front row with Remus on one side and Ginny on the other. Ron had gone to sit with some other aurors that he was friends with. Harry was very grateful for having Ginny at the moment. She seemed to be clinging to him for support, which was helping tremendously. The fact of knowing that the rat had helped kill his parents and then Sirius, was enough to make him collapse with a combination of anger and grief. He wanted the man to rot in hell for all he had done.

The man heading the proceedings came in and took his place to the left of Harry. He called for Wormtail to be brought in. Two dementors came in, dragging a very tired and old looking Peter Pettigrew between then. Harry felt his insides go cold and he retracted from the horrid beings. Remus, sensing this, put a hand on his knee and leaned in. "I have chocolate in my pocket." The absurdity of this statement made Harry laugh loudly but he quickly stifled it as soon as the majority of the room glared in his direction.

"Thank you. But I think I'll be fine for now. Just as long as they don't come too near." Remus smiled a small smile. He had been a bit out of sorts all day. It was probably due to the fact that he'd be seeing his once best friend being sentenced to either life in Azkaban or the Dementor's Kiss. "Are you going to be okay?" Harry asked softly.

"Yes. It's just a little weird. If somebody had told me back in Hogwarts that one of my best friends would be here, waiting to be sentenced for killing my other two best friends," he choked on his last words and looked down. Harry wrapped a comforting arm around him.

"I know. I can see what you're going through, Moony. I'm sorry. It shouldn't have been this way."

"I know. We were Marauders. Nothing would ever get us. We were invincible. Sirius always said that. 'We're the Marauders! Nothing and nobody will ever get us!' And then your dad would jump in with this stupid song that he had dubbed our theme song. He'd sing it at the top of his lungs until somebody would shut him up with a charm. The only way he'd get out of it was by going to Lily and giving her puppy dog eyes."

"What was the song? Did he make it up?"

"The words, yes. But he put it to that one Muggle song, 'We Are the Champions.' 'We Are the Marauders'" Remus chuckled quietly. "It didn't even fit with the tempo of the song but he'd speed the words up just to make it fit. It was terrible."

Harry looked up at Wormtail, who was now tied down to the chair. The Dementors were gone now and it looked as though he had energy coming back into him. They made eye contact and Harry could have sworn that there was a pleading look in his eyes. Harry merely glared. There was no room for sympathy when it came to that rat. The proceedings started a moment after and Wormtail was given Veritaserum.

"Please state your name," said the man heading the court.

"Peter Pettigrew," he stated in a monotone voice.

"And are you, or are you not, a Death Eater?"

"I am."

"Where were you on the evening of January 5, 2003?"

"I was at a wizard's park in Los Angeles, California."

"What was the purpose of this visit to this particular park?"

"I went there with my fellow Death Eaters in hopes that we would finally be able to kill James Newark."

Harry looked at Ginny nervously. "Why did he use that name?" he whispered.

"I don't know. Could it be possible that he didn't know?"

"I have no idea." Harry closed his eyes. "I hope he doesn't say anything."

"And what happened when you arrived?"

"We waited in the trees, watching Newark, the Weasley's, Black, Lupin, Draco Malfoy, and some Muggle eating and playing Quidditch." At this the man looked confused.

"A Muggle was playing Quidditch?"

"No, he was watching."

"Okay, what happened that night?"

"They were eating dinner when Sirius Black stood up all of a sudden. I think I was the only one to see. He ran to us but I couldn't find him even after I changed into my rat form to look. He disappeared and plus it was getting dark and his Animagus form is black. When I changed back to my human form, he was just getting back to the table. I decided to take matters into my own hands and try to aim for Newark to finally finish him off. But Black was stupid and jumped in front of Newark. So, it was Black who died instead of my intended target.

"I saw a shield go up around the table by Newark's bodyguards and Newark fell over Black's body and I could see them speaking. I knew when Black finally died because Newark laid his head on him. But then after he spoke to Lupin, he stood up, had an argument with his bodyguards and walked right through the shield. I was still the only one who had seen him leave the others. But he turned invisible and I couldn't tell where he was. I only had time to warn the others that Newark was coming before somebody started to attack us. He killed about seven of our numbers, and stunned me so that I could see what I did. Or at least, that is what he said."

"Okay." The man turned to a woman beside him. "Please contact this James Newark. We will need to speak with him." With terrified eyes, Harry looked between Remus and Ginny. Remus squeezed his arm while Ginny squeezed his hand even tighter. "And how long, Mr. Pettigrew, have you been a follower of You Know Who?"

"Since 1979."

"And what caused you to become one?"

"The woman I loved married somebody else. The day after her marriage, I went to the Dark Lord. He had been wanting me anyway, so I conceded after she betrayed me."

"And who was this woman?"

"Lily Evans."

Remus stood up so quickly that Harry started. He didn't know who to stare at more, Remus or Wormtail. "You filthy liar!" Remus shouted while pointing his shaking finger at Peter. "Lily never betrayed you. She never even knew that how you felt about her. Don't you remember that I was the only one you told?"

"I told her the day before the wedding. She refused me, Remus."

"And for good reason, you disgusting excuse for a human!"

"At least I am a human," Wormtail sneered back.

This time Harry jumped up and started for the little rat so that he could strangle him himself, but Remus held him back. "It's not worth it," he muttered.

"ENOUGH! This is a court. I suggest you deal with this later. I have a line of questioning for this man. Now, sit you two." Harry and Remus both sat, both turning slightly red in the face.

"Peter Pettigrew, is this why you let You Know Who kill Lily and James Potter? Because you believed Lily to have betrayed you?"

"Yes. Lily and I could have been happy together." Harry felt himself clenching his jaw and balling his hands into tight fists. Ginny, seeing this, unfolded his hand and held it in her own.

"That will be all, Mr. Pettigrew."

Two dementors swarmed in and took Wormtail by the arms and dragged him out. "The court now calls Mr. Harry Potter."

Harry took a deep breath, stood up and walked to the chair. Thankfully, the thing did not tie him up. Though he knew it wouldn't, he still had the crazy idea that it would as soon as he sat down. A balding, muscular wizard walked to him with a vile of clear liquid.

"Open your mouth and hold up your tongue," he instructed. Harry complied and he felt three drops of the liquid drop into his mouth. The effect was instantaneous. His head cleared of all thought and a slightly queasy feeling entered his stomach.

"Please state your name," he heard a voice from far away state.

"Harry James Potter," he said without thinking.

"Mr. Potter, where were you the night of Mr. Sirius Black's death?"

"I was at a wizard's park in L.A."

"Really? Mr. Pettigrew never mentioned you. Why is that?"

"I don't think he knew that I was there."

"And why would that be?"

"He thought I was James Newark."

"So, it was you who caught and killed all of those Death Eaters?"

"Yes, it was me."

"That explains it better. Do you know, Mr. Potter, why the Death Eaters would want to kill Mr. Newark?"

"Yes, I do."

"And? Why would they want to?"

"Because they have wanted to kill me ever since I destroyed Voldemort."

A collective gasp went up in the room and whispers started. Harry could hear people exclaiming in wonder that it really was him who had saved them again. And even more exclamations about how he said his name.

"Please, Mr. Potter, do not say his name here. You will upset people."

"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself. He is gone, he won't hurt anybody anymore. I will say his name all I want."

A large sigh. "Fine. Could you please elaborate, Mr. Potter? How would killing Mr. Newark help them kill you?"

"Because I am James Newark."

Another gasp went up around the room and more whispers started up. "Silence! How is this possible, Mr. Potter?"

"James Newark was my alias when I left the wizarding world for the States. Sirius found me almost a year ago and persuaded me to come back to play professional Quidditch. I did not want to come back as Harry Potter so I opted to keep my alias. I did not come out as Harry Potter again until only a couple months ago."

"Please!" Remus exclaimed suddenly. "This has nothing to do with Peter Pettigrew! I ask that this information not be released until Harry is ready to release it to the public. He will come clean soon. He promised Sirius before he died."

"Fine." He turned to all the reporters whose quills were moving rapidly. "Do not print this in the papers. That is up to Mr. Potter." Deep inside, Harry was rejoicing. He had tried to stop himself from speaking but it all came flooding out of him. The questioning continued that had to do with Peter Pettigrew and Harry heard himself answer everything he knew of the man. When Harry finally returned to his seat, he was shaking badly and he could feel the effects of the Veritaserum finally wearing off. Whispers started up again when he stood but Harry kept his head up and sat down beside Ginny and Remus again. Ginny wrapped her arms around him and Harry kissed her cheek.

"I didn't know they were going to do that," he said shakily.

"It'll be fine, Harry," Ginny soothed. "The reporters won't say anything." Harry scoffed.

"Since when has a high member of a court stopped them from saying anything? Especially when the story is this big? I can just imagine the headlines tomorrow."

"Don't worry about it now. Only worry about it when it comes, okay? Who knows if it will until you say something." Harry nodded and looked up at the two rows of reporters. The first one he saw was the one who had gone to his house for _Witch Weekly_. She was looking at him strangely. Harry wondered if the memory charm had worn off or not. The rest of the proceedings passed slowly even though only two more people were interviewed. One of them being Remus, though Harry could tell that nobody was taking his testimony seriously, even under Veritaserum. This angered Harry to no end. He swore to himself that if he could, he'd get the law changed in favour of Remus, so that he could be considered human.

After all were questioned, the court was released for a recess while the verdict was decided. Remus, Harry, Ginny, and Ron all made their way into a room off of the court to drink pumpkin juice while they waited. Swarms of people were moving through the room, giving Harry confused, and admiring looks as they passed. Harry would just smile and nod at them, squeezing Ginny's hand tighter each time.

"Excuse me, excuse me! Mr. Potter, could I have a word with you?"

Harry spun on the spot to see the woman who had interviewed him at his house, squeezing through the massive crowds. He smiled nervously and nodded. "Miss Wendling? Correct?"

"Yes. Mr. Potter, I was just wondering when you were planning on coming out to the public about your alias. Especially with all those rumours before, it would certainly explain a lot."

"I'm not entirely sure, actually. I guess it just depends on when I get done with my work at the Ministry. Hopefully, it'll be soon, I did promise Sirius to tell everybody who I really am."

The reporter smiled shyly, which Ginny glared at. "I was also wondering if you'd um... like to go out for dinner sometime?"

Harry gave a start and winced a little when Ginny squeezed his hand to an almost unbearable point. "Oh! Well, I'm flattered, really I am. But you see, I'm engaged to Ginny here."

The reporter turned a slight pink colour and offered Ginny an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. I didn't know if that was part of your facade before, you know? I thought I'd give it a try."

"It's alright," Harry assured.

"Well, I um... better be going. Congratulations." She scurried off through the crowds again. Harry made sure that she was well out of ear and eye shot before he burst out laughing, Ron joining in from beside him..

"Oh, I'm sorry, but that was hilarious. I can't believe she actually asked you out!" Ron exclaimed.

"Part of my facade. Honestly," Harry said, shaking his head.

He turned and looked at Ginny, and tried to keep back the insane grin from spreading across his face when he saw that Ginny was still looking murderously towards where the reporter had disappeared to. Harry wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled his face into her neck. She sighed with content and hugged him back.

"Okay, you two lovebirds. They're calling us back in," Remus said, very obviously amused.

Harry pulled away from his fiancee and slapped Remus over the shoulder. "You get pleasure in breaking us up, don't you?"

Remus gave him an innocent look. "Why, I do believe I know what you're insinuating, but I don't think I like it one bit!"

Harry rolled his eyes and began making his way through the crowd back into the courtroom. They took their previously vacated seats, waiting for the proceedings to begin once again. After a long ten minute wait, everybody was seated once more and Peter Pettigrew was called in once more. The Dementors placed him in the chair where he was once again bound.

"Peter Pettigrew! You have been brought here today under the accusations of being a Death Eater, the direct murder of Mr. Sirius Black, the murder of thirteen Muggles, and of turning Mr. James and Lily Potter into You Know Who twenty-four years ago.

"Under the evidence and testimonies given here today, the day of February 3rd, 2003, we have come to a verdict. Mr. Peter Pettigrew, for the murder of Sirius Black, you are hereby sentenced to a life-term in Azkaban prison. For the murder of thirteen Muggles, one and a half lifetimes in Azkaban prison. For revealing James and Lily Potter, one life sentence will be served in Azkaban prison. Last but not least, for conspiring with You Know Who and his Death Eaters, two lifetime sentences in Azkaban prison, no chance for parole. Let it be known that Mr. Peter Pettigrew is an Animagus in the form of a rat, and will be placed in a anti-Animagus cell, and will be monitored day and night by no less than three Dementors. This court is dismissed."

A large round of applause rent the air as two Dementors came in and escorted Wormtail out of the room. Harry caught his eye on the way out and gave him a smile. Wormtail immediately looked away, and back into his impending doom.

"He's gone from our lives for good now, Harry," Remus said quietly. "One less Death Eater on our lists."

"One down, fifty to go." Ginny took his hand as Remus laid a hand on his shoulder, and they walked out of the courtroom, happy that justice had finally been served for three people who lost their lives prematurely because of a man they had once trusted. "Monday starts a new work day for me. Those bastards better be scared, because I'm coming for them."

***

"Harry? Harry. _Harry._ Harry! Wake up!" "Shh... I'm looking for the leprachaun."

"Um... what?"

"I'm looking for the leprechaun. Quiet, it'll get away again," Harry mumbled.

"Harry, what in the world are you talking about? You are not looking for a leprechaun. Your lazy arse is still lying in bed when you said you'd come to the doctor with me today."

Harry mumbled something incoherently and rolled onto his stomach, where he promptly began to snore. Ginny sighed, clearly exasperated. She pointed her wand at him and sent a shock at him.

"Ahh!" he screamed as he jumped up. "Why'd you do that for?" he asked sleepily.

"I've been trying to wake you up. My doctors appointment is in twenty minutes."

"Oh! I'm sorry! I'll get up right away."

As Harry jumped up from bed, Ginny began to walk towards the bedroom door. "By the way, you have strange dreams about leprechauns," she threw over her shoulder as she closed the door behind herself. Harry shook his head and continued to dress, muttering dark things about leprechauns under his breath. Five minutes later, Harry was running down the stairs and into the kitchen, where he nearly ran into Remus.

"Morning, Remmy. How'd you sleep?"

"Here's a cup of coffee. I knew you'd need it. And I slept fairly well. How about you? I hope those pesky leprechauns aren't getting you again," Remus replied with a smirk.

Harry flushed slightly and sat at the kitchen table. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said lamely, taking a drink from his mug. Remus guffawed loudly and left the room.

"Harry, we need to leave!" came Ginny's voice from the hallway.

"Yes'm," he groaned.

"I heard that," Ginny shot back at him.

Harry threw his coffee cup into the sink and ran out the door after Ginny. Immediately after she Disapparated, he followed to the nearest wizarding doctor's office in London. "Come on, slow poke," Ginny teased as soon as he appeared by her side. Harry poked her in the side in retaliation. She merely ignored him and continued into the receptionist area. "Hello," she said as she walked up to the front desk. "I have an appointment for 8:30 with Dr. Weinman."

"Name?" the receptionist asked. The woman looked up at Ginny and Harry felt shivers go down his spine at her eyes. They were a creepy dark purple colour. Ginny, however seemed unfazed.

"Ginny Weasley."

"Have a seat, Ms. Weasley. I'll inform Dr. Weinman that you're here."

"Thank you."

Harry had already taken a seat and had picked up a Quidditch magazine. The front was splashed with a bright orange, proclaiming the Cannons to be in their best season ever. Harry sighed, slightly sad that he couldn't take part in it for a while. He really missed the rough contact sport. Opening the pages, he flipped to the page with his team's article on it. The reporter had concentrated on each player in turn and at the end, there were a few paragraphs about Harry, or rather James Newark, saying how he was currently on a leave of absence for unknown reasons.

"Do you miss it?" Ginny asked, breaking Harry from his reading.

"Yeah. I love being an auror and all, but it's nothing compared to Quidditch. I love doing something where I know that the possibility that I might have to kill somebody is there. I'm tired."

Ginny nodded, knowing that he wasn't speaking about lack of sleep. "So am I. But you're getting closer. You'll get there soon."

"We will. But, let's not talk about it right now. When can we find out what the sex of the baby is?"

Ginny looked at him surprised. "You _want_ to know?"

"Well, yes. Don't you?"

"I've always wanted it to be a surprise."

Harry threw the magazine back on the table beside him and stared at the London traffic outside, zooming by. "Oh. What are we going to do then? I like knowing what's going to happen."

"I don't know. We wouldn't be able to find out until I'm four months along anyhow. So, we still have two months to figure that out. A little more than that actually. I'm only about five weeks along right now."

"Ms. Weasley?"

"Yes, that's me. Come on, Harry."

Harry stood up and grabbed Ginny's hand, and they followed the short balding man into a back room. When they arrived, Harry was surprised to see that they had Muggle machinery in the room. Ginny immediately laid upon the table, waiting for the doctor to begin.

"Are you the father, then?" Dr. Weinman asked.

"Yes, Harry Potter," he replied as they shook hands.

Nothing flashed behind the doctor's brown eyes and Harry was extremely relieved. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potter. Ms. Weasley, a pleasure as well. As I'm sure you've both noticed, we have Muggle equipment here." At Harry and Ginny's nod, he continued. "We have found that their equipment has worked very well. There have been a few adjustments made on them of course to make them better. Our system for ultra-sounds here in wizarding London are the most advanced in the world, with Muggle technology and new wizarding spells combined. The picture is very clear and you can actually see what the baby looks like, though it still is a little fuzzy. We'll just get started then."

The doctor began spreading a gel over Ginny's stomach, cast a spell on her, then took out some sort of Muggle instrument and pressed it to different parts of her stomach. Harry watched the screen and admitted a little gasp as a clear picture came up of the smallest human that Harry had ever seen.

"I'll zoom up so that you can see the face. There isn't much there yet as you aren't that far along."

The picture zoomed up, and Harry saw that his soon to be son or daughter looked a little like an alien. But to him, it was the most beautiful thing in the world. He grabbed Ginny's hand and smiled at her. "Would you like to hear the heartbeat? I'd say it only started about two weeks ago."

"Yes," Harry and Ginny said in unison.

Moments later a strong heartbeat filled the room, and Harry felt his heart clench happily in his chest. "That's amazing," Ginny murmured. She turned her head from the screen and smiled at Harry again. "We made that." Harry smiled softly and kissed her nose.

"Yes, we did."

Ginny smiled a watery smile and turned back to the screen. Harry sighed happily. This was what he'd been waiting for all his life. As simple as it was, he'd only wanted a family. And he was finally getting it. ***

The happy couple arrived home an hour later, feeling very estatic about their coming baby. It seemed that nothing could ruin their happy mood. But then they had to go and ruin it by walking into Harry's house. The sight that met them did not bode well in their favour - at all.

"Virginia Weasley and Harry Potter!" stormed Molly Weasley. "I demand an explanation right now!"

Harry looked nervously at his fiancee before smiling weakly and letting go of Ginny's hand. He moved boldly forward and kissed Molly's cheek. "Good morning, Molly. Would you like anything to drink, eat, anything? Anything at all?" he asked as he led her to the living room.

"Oh... tea would be nice."

"Ginny and I would be happy to get you some. Just sit in here and we'll be right back in here and explain whatever it is that you want from us."

"You better not think you're getting off the hook for anything, Harry Potter. Because you most certainly aren't."

"I didn't think so. I just want to be a good host. Come on, Ginny. Let's get your dear mother a cup of tea."

Ginny rolled her eyes but followed Harry anyway. "You sure do know how to put it on, don't you?" she asked once they were in the kitchen.

"Yes. I learned to do it while in the States. It's a useful trait to have, you know."

"I've already put a teapot on," said Remus coming into the room. "I thought Molly might need it when she came over here in that rage."

"What exactly is she angry about, Remus?" Ginny asked curiously.

"I believe it's because you two haven't set a date for the wedding yet."

"Oh, please," Ginny scoffed. "That is no reason to be so upset."

"According to her, it is. I suggest you hurry up with that tea. I'm going out to meet old Mundungus. We haven't seen each other in a while. Oh, and I suggest July 15th."

"Why?" Harry asked curiously.

Remus gave him a confused look. "Did we really not tell you that much about your parents, Harry?" Harry shrugged. "Well, remind me to do so later. That was the date your parents got married. You'd be getting married on their twenty-fourth anniversary that way. But it's up to you. It's just a suggestion."

"We'll take it into consideration, Remus. Thank you," Ginny replied smiling.

"It's nothing. I'll see you two later."

"Have fun with Fletcher," Harry called after him. Remus waved and disappeared around a corner. By this time, Ginny had the tea done and she walked into the living room with three cups on a tray.

"Good. I thought you two had forgotten about me," Molly said irritably.

"Really, mum. Harry and I not setting a date isn't something to get so worked up about."

"I should think it would be! Ginny, you're pregnant with his child! You should be getting married to him, immediately!"

"Molly... there are things that wouldn't work if we got married right now. That's why we're waiting. The baby - well, that was unexpected, but it happened and there isn't anything we can do about it."

"Yes, mum. I agree with him. With Harry being an auror, I don't want to get married. I mean, what if something happened to him?"

"Shouldn't that be a reason to be married to him? You'd regret it if something did happen, Ginny!"

"Maybe, but I just can't do it. I want to wait until things have settled down again. If it'll make you happy, we'll set a date, but it's not definite. It depends on a lot of things."

"Well, what's the date then? We need to start planning this out."

Ginny sighed. "July 15th sound okay, Harry?"

"Yeah. It sounds perfect." Harry smiled.

"Great," Molly replied briskly. "Now, Harry - I expect you to help out with every step. You need to have a say in everything, from colour, to food, to flowers."

Harry groaned.

***

Much to Harry's dismay, he spent the rest of Sunday planning out details for a wedding. Ginny wasn't thrilled at first but she quickly got into it and was squealing right along with her mother. Harry had never wanted ear plugs so badly as he had that day.

Though when Monday came, he found that he would much rather have it be Sunday again, and listen to his future wife and mother-in-law plan out his wedding. Things were getting worse by the minute with the Death Eaters and Harry knew that his team of aurors would have to strike soon or suffer the consequences. Draco Malfoy spent next to no time in his cell on Monday because he was helping the strategists with the plan for attack. Ron spent the day in the field, getting more information, while Harry sat in his office, doing paperwork and watching over the work that was being done around the office.

It wasn't until almost three in the afternoon that anybody actually approached Harry to speak with him. Everybody knew that he was in a foul mood. But the person who approached him had never had any qualms with this before, and walked bravely in without knocking.

"Potter."

"Malfoy," Harry replied with a quirk to the side of his mouth. Draco seemed to be in high spirits about the way things were going, and was in an especially good mood, even for being in the custody of the Ministry. "To what do I owe this honour?"

Draco smiled winningly and sat in a seat before Harry's desk. "I've just come to visit. They didn't really need me anymore and I didn't want to be dragged back down to my cell... so I hauled arse into here."

Harry smiled a little sadly at Draco, signed a paper, then threw his quill onto his desk. "Don't worry about it, Draco. You won't be in there for that much longer. So, how are those plans coming with Malfoy Manor?"

"I think they've turned out well. I believe they're done and just waiting for approval."

"Well, I'm sure they'll be fine. Why aren't they bringing them to me yet? I need to know the plan."

"Don't get your knickers in a bunch, Harry. They'll get to you."

"I should hope so. But I'm guessing you don't really want to speak about this right now."

"Not particularly. No."

"Okay. I've been meaning to ask you something anyway."

"What's that?"

"When you get out of this mess, what do you plan on doing?"

Draco shook his head slightly. "I don't know what you mean."

"Well, you'll have Rebecca back, you'll be cleared of all charges - what are you going to do? Get married? Have kids? Play some more Quidditch? Get a job at the Ministry? What are your plans? I'm sure that you've had time to think these sorts of things through."

"More than enough. Believe me. I suppose I'll do everything that I've wanted to do for the past five years. I have an engagement ring ready to give to Becca, kids would be good. My mother would be extremely happy to have some grandchildren running around. I don't know if I'll go back to Quidditch though."

"Why not?"

"Being in the public eye after being accused of being a Death Eater, Harry? Surely you know that that's not any fun."

Harry swallowed. "Yes. I do know that unfortunately."

"I just... I don't know if I want to go back to that. Sure, I love Quidditch, but I'm just not sure that I want to go back to it. What about you? After all this is over, are you going to stay an auror, or are you going back to the Cannons?"

"I want to, yes. It all depends on what happens, I reckon. I think Ginny wants me to, and I know I definitely miss it. It's sad to say it, but I don't know if I'd want to play if you weren't there."

Draco looked genuinely surprised by this announcement and only managed to stare at Harry for a few moments, making Harry laugh a little. "Yes, that is what I said. I don't know if I'll play if you're not there," Harry repeated.

"Yes. I know that. But... why?"

"Because you've always been there. The only time I didn't think Quidditch and think of you was in first year... well I suppose that's a lie. I always thought of how jealous you must be of me..."

Draco scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest, looking very irritable about that. Harry smiled and leaned back in his chair. "It's the truth though. It's been a nice change of pace to actually play the game _with_ you, not against you. And that isn't just saying for the field either, Draco. I mean all the time."

Draco nodded and smiled a little, which the smile then turned into a smirk. "Well, Potter, I'm glad we had this sentimental talk, but if you don't mind, I think I'll be throwing _myself_ into my cell and throwing away the key. Don't bother to come visit me because I'll have gouged my ear drums out, only so that I will never have to listen to you again."

"Well, that would be a shame. Try not to leave too much blood on the floor."

Draco smiled and drew his knees up to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them protectively. "No, but really, Harry - I know what you mean. It's a nice change of pace. I don't think I would change a thing."

**A/N: Again, sorry sorry sorry for the extremely long wait for this chapter. I would appreciate reviews ever so much! :) So, please click that review button, even if it's to tell me how stupid I am for making everybody wait for so long. I'll try harder for the next chapter. The next chapter will be starting right into the action I believe. I've got it mapped out in my head, but it's subject to change a bit! Thank you so much to everybody who has already reviewed. Your constant reminders helped me keep going with the story through everything, even if it was to only write a paragraph a week, I got through this chapter! There's now only two or three more chapters to go before I'm done! ::sniffle:: This is my baby! :)** March 4, 2003 


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